Life as a programmer

It’s been forevers…

2010-11-18T13:28:00.001-05:00

Hello from forevers.

This guy is supposed to make our schools safe?

2009-10-05T14:07:00.001-05:00

http://www.catholic.org/politics/story.php?id=34499

His own book: http://www.amazon.com/Mamas-Boy-Preachers-Son-Memoir/dp/0807071463/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254769336&sr=8-1

WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews.com) - He is known to the United States as the "Safe Schools Czar:" a special advisor in the White House responsible for helping formulate policies designed to keep US public schools "safe and drug free."

But US pro-family leaders know Kevin Jennings as something more: a highly influential homosexual activist, who admitted in a book on his childhood that a deep-seated hatred of God and religious believers began when he fully embraced a homosexual lifestyle and bid God farewell with the words, "Screw you, buddy."

Jennings's official position within the Obama Administration is the Assistant Deputy Secretary, who directs the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools under US Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan. Duncan is a veteran of Chicago's public school system, who proposed and approved controversial plans for a special public high school designed for homosexuals.

Jennings brings to the Education Department his experience as the cofounder and executive director of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), where in keeping with that organization's mission, he concentrated his energies on developing and advocating classroom curricula for public schools that would re-educate school-children to embrace homosexuality.

As a key part of their strategy to advance their agenda and change the culture, GLSEN leaders say they specifically target children as young as kindergarten in order to begin a "saturation process," that forms the imagination with positive impressions of the homosexual lifestyle, and so pre-cognitively influences the way a child perceives the world and makes judgments on right and wrong. Bill Donohue, a civil rights leader and President of the Catholic League, stated that Kevin Jennings "has a history of bashing Christians" which appears deeply rooted in his decision at 17 years-old that he was a homosexual and God was to blame for his feelings of guilt and shame.

Donohue draws the conclusion from Jennings's own book called "Mama's Boy, Preacher's Son: A Memoir," published in 2006 by Beacon Press, which deals with his upbringing by his father, the Baptist minister, and his mother, the non-believer and anti-Catholic. Jennings writes that he came to this "new attitude toward God" following a masturbatory experience that was prompted by fantasies of two "hot guys" taking off their shirts in his home.

"Before, I was the one who was failing God; now I decided He was the one who had failed me," wrote Jennings. "I decided I had done nothing wrong: He had, by promising to 'set you free' and never delivering on His promise. What had He done for me, other than make me feel shame and guilt? Squat. Screw you, buddy - I don't need you around anymore, I decided."

Jennings concludes by saying that for years afterwards he "reacted violently to anyone who professed any kind of religion" and it would be decades later before he opened a Bible again.

But Jennings still retains contempt for observant believers on what he calls "the religious right." In fact, Jennings told a gathering of fellow activists in 2000 that conservative-minded Christians were "hard-core bigots" who should "drop dead." But the GLSEN founder had the group laughing by telling them he really wanted to just say to them: "f*** you!"

Jennings was also on the board of advisers for a 2001 PBS documentary-style film that slammed the Boy Scouts of America for their policy of excluding homosexuals from their membership and was promoted at "gay pride" festivals to mobilize homosexuals against the Scouts.

Further concern has arisen about Jennings concerning his history as a former drug abuser, and as a school counselor back in 1988, who failed to report a sexually active homosexual relationship between an adult and a boy, then a sophomore high school student. Instead Jennings counseled the boy named "Brewster" on maintaining the relationship with the adult, which began in a bus stop bathroom.

During his tenure as GLSEN's executive director, Jennings also promoted homosexual conferences that featured GLSEN presenters hosting extremely graphic and detailed workshops to teenagers about all the mechanics and variations of homosexual intercourse.

Call me crazy here, but some how I have trouble believing this guy is at all interested in keeping our schools safe. Based on what I read here, I have a crazy idea that he more will be about just “killing god” by trying to unteach Christianity and replace it with his own agenda. Personally I’d rather have my (future) kids learn the teachings of the Catholic Church, which can be summed up as “love everyone, especially people like homosexuals who through no fault of their own are up against a difficult life style. However at the same time do understand the concepts of mortal sin and in particular morality and that there is a clear right and wrong”.

This guy? I’d love to see him out.

Well I’m surprised….

2009-09-16T10:36:00.001-05:00

I guess not all protestants think Catholics are non-Christians destine for hell.

http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=33506

United methodists host 'Theology of the Body: An Ecumenical Introduction to John Paul II's Teaching.'

WASHINGTON (Christian Newswire) - United Methodist renewal groups Lifewatch and Transforming Congregations will host an educational seminar on May 21 in New Bern, NC entitled Paul J. Griffiths, Warren Professor of Catholic Theology at Duke Divinity School, will deliver the keynote address.

He will explore the late Pope's key concepts and discuss such questions as: What is the real dignity of the created human person? Why were we created male and female, and what does that teach us about God? What is the deepest meaning of human sexuality, and how does spousal love reflect divine love?

"United Methodists and other Mainline believers have been arguing over abortion and homosexuality for decades," said Rev. Karen Booth, Executive Director of Transforming Congregations, "but we haven't done a very good job of explaining why the arguments even matter. John Paul II's Theology of the Body has a profound message for all Christians about God's created intent for men and women. It gives us the tools we need to reexamine and challenge our post-modern cultural assumptions about human life and sex."

Delivered from 1979-1984 in a series of Wednesday audiences, Theology of the Body was the first major teaching of John Paul's pontificate. Papal biographer George Weigel described it as a "kind of theological time bomb set to go off with dramatic consequences, sometime in the third millennium of the Church."

The Lifewatch/Transforming Congregations seminar will be held at the New Bern Riverfront Hilton (formerly Sheraton) Hotel and Marina, 100 Middle Street, New Bern NC. Visit the Lifewatch web site at www.lifewatch.org or contact Rev. Paul Stallsworth at 252-726-2175 for more information.

Sky Angel IPTV

2009-09-15T12:52:00.001-05:00

Just found out about this not long ago, ordered it and just finished hooking it up. For those not in the know, it's faith based IPTV. I got them because they have CatholicTV, which from what I've seen of it is pretty good. I'm watching it right now, honestly the quality is pretty darn good, very much equivalent to SD analog or digital cable. For $25/mo, can't complain... And I'm only paying that much b/c I wanted NFL network which is on their "family package", you can get it for as little as $15/mo for faith only.

Some politics free faith:

2009-09-14T09:44:00.001-05:00

So I’ve been very political on my blog, and a little religious here and there. I think this time I’m just going to share something that’s more faith oriented than anything else. This is regarding a scenario I hardly understand to be perfectly honest. What is that exactly? How my very Christian friends, could be among those saying “I never give money to “hobo’s”, they’re just going to spend it on booze!”

This mystifies me because Christ does teach, quite clearly that Christ can be found in every homeless person looking for shelter, or a little money for food. Basically in a very real sense, that homeless person is Christ, how? Because what you do, or don’t do for him you effectively do or do or do not do for Christ. Of course this isn’t to say the homeless person is Christ in the physical real sense, after all it is quite possible that that particular person might well go spend that money on vice, something I’m sure Christ would not do.

But just the same, it’s quite powerful to consider that what we do or don’t do for that homeless person, equates to how we are treating Christ directly. I write all this, because I happened to be watching some CatholicTV video clips and Father Jeff Bayhi reminded me of this very important reality when he discusses the same issue. I’d certainly invite anyone to watch it and ponder. Oh, and for those of you whom might be wondering about everything I wrote above, about what we do or don’t do for the homeless person. Below the video I’ll quote (and link to) Matthew 25 31- 46, a passage which speaks directly to this.

Biblical Reference:

http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0839/__PVY.HTM

31

14 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne,

32

and all the nations 15 will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

33

He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34

Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

35

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me,

36

naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.'

37

Then the righteous 16 will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?

38

When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?

39

When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?'

40

And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.'

41

17 Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

42

For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,

43

a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.'

44

18 Then they will answer and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?'

45

He will answer them, 'Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.'

46

And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

Catholic.org & Healthcare

2009-08-18T12:54:00.001-05:00

In the last few months I found in my bing (& google) searches a nice little website called www.catholic.org. It’s a terrific website which combines a fairly large “catholic encyclopedia” which serves as a terrific reference for us all when we have questions about certain procedural aspects of our faith, as well as provides a host of great opinion pieces ranging from a review of Michael Bay’s latest disaster Transformers 2 to this little gem regarding a Catholic approach to considering the issue of Health Care reform.

What is rather unique is that this opinion piece, rather than offering us a conclusion and then trying to convince us why it’s right, rather serves as a frame work for beginning the process of forming a good well guided opinion on this very important topic. Anyone who knows me and particularly those who follow my blog (at all, if anyone still does lol I haven’t written about me much lately directly) knows where I stand on this issue. But for the sake of attempting to preserve the author’s original intent I’ll go ahead and post it below (linked as always) with out interjecting any of my personal thoughts about the subject save one, I pretty much agree with everything Deacon Keith Fournier has to say.

http://www.catholic.org/politics/story.php?id=34259

Our identity as Catholics grounds us in a vision for a new and true humanism rooted in the recognition of the dignity of every human person.

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (Catholic Online) - Catholic Christians never fit in with the “the religious right.” I maintain it is because some of the otherwise conservative or “neo-conservative” political positions which came along with the package did not comport with Catholic Social thought. Too often there was a failure to focus on the foundation of the entire Catholic Social vision, the dignity of every human life, and then operate in accordance with a hierarchy of values. However, what is becoming clear is that what is called “liberal” or “progressive” in contemporary political parlance is repugnant. It embraces the culture of death in its acceptance of intrinsic evils such as abortion and euthanasia while claiming to be compassionate!

Our identity as Catholics grounds us in a vision for a new and true humanism rooted in the recognition of the dignity of every human person. It also marries us to defending real marriage, as between a man and a woman, open to love and life, and the family built upon that lifelong relationship. These are non-negotiables to Catholics, at least if they understand the teaching of the Church. Our positions on life and marriage are not simply based upon our “religious” convictions or because we embrace what the Magisterium (teaching office) of our Church teaches, but because they are objectively true, revealed in the Natural Law, and promote the common good.

Catholics proclaim a vision of human freedom at odds with much of what is posing as freedom today. It affirms our obligation to choose responsibly, with reference to what is right and what is true. As to that important word “true”, Catholics reject moral relativism. We insist upon the existence of an objective morality which should guide all human behavior. We also stand in a social justice tradition which is not “left” or “right”, one which is pro-life, pro-family, pro-freedom, pro-poor and pro-peace. That is why we will never be captured by any political party. Catholic Social Doctrine is prophetic. In this age of political confusion and cultural collapse, Catholics must put the Catholic back in Catholic Action.

The dignity of every human person must be the lens through which we consider every public policy issue. Without the right to life there are no other rights. Human rights are goods of the person given to us by the Creator. When there is no person there can be no rights to be received or exercised. Our insistence upon this is not based solely upon our belief in Revelation, though it is certainly found in both Sacred Scripture and the Christian Tradition. Rather, this truth is written on every human heart and knowable by reason. This Natural Law claim is essential if we hope to overcome the false assignment of our position to our “religious conviction.”

This tactic has allowed the opponents of the fundamental right to life to minimize our influence by relegating our claim to the sphere of “private religious belief”. This effort to censor truth escalates as the contemporary secularist agenda advances. The truth concerning the dignity of every human person is not true because it is Catholic; it is Catholic because it is true. It must never be compromised. It is never a “private” conviction. Children are intentionally killed in every procured abortion.

Marriage as a lifelong union between one man and one woman, open to life, constituted for the good of the spouses and the good of children, is not our idea. It is also revealed by the Natural Law and has been recognized as such throughout our history. Marriage and family must be the lens through which we review governance because the proper application of the principle of subsidiarity demands nothing less. That is why so many Catholics (this writer among them) prefer small government solutions to public needs. However, we must be careful.

Some “conservatives” present the notion that any governance is some kind of concession, detracting from freedom. The fact is that God governs. So do all of us in our families. The question we must ask is where the governing occurs and whether it is truly “good”. We must articulate our convictions concerning the goods of marriage and its proper ends in a language which communicates to an age deluded by ideologies of self- centeredness. We are by nature and grace made for the other. Only in the giving away of ourselves to the other will we ever find the human fulfillment and flourishing which we all long for. The stability of marriage based families is integral to a just social order and furthers the real common good.

In the words of the late Servant of God John Paul, Freedom must be set free. We suffer from the aftermath of a counterfeit notion of freedom as a perceived “right” to do whatever one pleases. That is not freedom, it is license. True freedom brings with it an obligation to choose in accordance with what is right and what is true. ...

Only in choosing the good will men or women - or the societies which they form - ever flourish.

This assertion concerning freedom is fatal to the hedonism and materialism running rampant in the West. Our efforts to set freedom free will require a wrestling match in the field of ideas for the definition of freedom. It will further require our capturing the hearts and minds of the culture by reasserting that not only is there such a thing as morality but that it liberates us to flourish as human persons and become a truly good society.

Finally, solidarity is not an option; we are our brother’s (and sister’s) keeper. We must work for a public policy, economic policy and governing philosophy which rejects both atomist individualism and statist approaches in efforts to care for the poor. The Catholic vision of the human person, the family and society is true, we were created to love and to live our lives with and for one another. The Catholic teaching that we have an obligation to the poor lies at the core of true social and economic justice. While we can, and we will, disagree on how to best implement this obligation of social solidarity, we must begin by acknowledging that it IS an obligation.

The debate over health care reform in the U.S.A. is an opportunity for us to sort through how much of our public policy vision is rooted in our understanding what it means to be a Catholic first. There is plenty of room for disagreement on how to structure such a reform among good Catholics. This is evident in the running debate between people like Dr. Deal Hudson and others, including some Bishops, who have a different view. They all agree on the absolute unacceptability of public funding of abortion or euthanasia, passive or active. They agree on the obligation to extend care to the poor in our midst. They disagree on the application of the principle of subsidiarity. This is a good debate between good Catholics.

This dialogue, and the healthy debate it has brought about, is a good example of what it means to put the Catholic back in Catholic Action. It is focused on attempting to apply the principles of Catholic Social Thought to a very real social need and not to simply parrot the charged political rhetoric which has surrounded the public conversation surrounding health care reform.

Another great health care reform news item

2009-08-17T10:47:00.001-05:00

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/17/potter.health.insurance/index.html

Editor's note: Wendell Potter has served since May 2009 as senior fellow on health care at the Center for Media and Democracy, a nonprofit organization that says it seeks to expose "corporate spin and government propaganda." After a 20-year career as a corporate public relations executive, Potter left his job last year as head of communications for one of the nation's largest health insurers, CIGNA Corporation.

(CNN) -- Having grown up in one of the most conservative and Republican places in the country -- East Tennessee -- I understand why many of the people who are showing up at town hall meetings this month are reacting, sometimes violently, when members of Congress try to explain the need for an expanded government role in our health care system.

I also have a lot of conservative friends, including one former co-worker who was laid off by CIGNA several years ago but who nonetheless worries about a "government takeover" of health care.

The most vocal folks at the town hall meetings seem to share the same ideology as my kinfolks in East Tennessee and my former CIGNA buddy: the less government involvement in our lives, the better.

That point couldn't have been made clearer than by the man standing in line to get free care at Remote Area Medical's recent health care "expedition" at the Wise County, Virginia, fairgrounds, who told a reporter he was dead set against President Obama's reform proposal.

Even though he didn't have health insurance, and could see the desperation in the faces of thousands of others all around him who were in similar straits, he was more worried about the possibility of having to pay more taxes than he was eager to make sure he and his neighbors wouldn't have to wait in line to get care provided by volunteer doctors in animal stalls.

Friday morning my former CIGNA buddy sent me an e-mail challenging something he said his wife heard me say in a radio report about my press conference in the Capitol on Wednesday with Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-New York, chairwoman of the House Rules Committee.

"She heard you say that these protestors are funded by the insurance companies. Frankly, nothing would surprise me, but certainly not each and every person," he wrote. "If there was a meeting near me, I certainly would tell my local representative how I feel about this entire subject (and it wouldn't be pretty), and I certainly am not funded by anyone. So I am ultimately wondering what proof there is that seemingly ordinary Americans are finally protesting what is going in Washington and there are all of these suggestions of a greater conspiracy."

If the radio report had carried more of my remarks, he might have a better understanding of how the health insurance and its army of PR people are influencing his opinions and actions without his even knowing it.

Until I quit my job last year, I was one of the leaders of that army. I had a very successful career and was my company's voice to the media and the public for several years.

It was my job to "promote and defend" the company's reputation and to try to persuade reporters to write positive stories about the industry's ideas on reform. During the last couple of years of my career, however, I became increasingly worried that the high-deductible plans insurers were beginning to push Americans into would force more and more of us into bankruptcy.

The higher I rose in the company, the more I learned about the tactics insurers use to dump policyholders when they get sick, in order to increase profits and to reward their Wall Street investors. I could not in good conscience continue serving as an industry mouthpiece. And I did not want to be part of yet another industry effort to kill meaningful reform.

I explained during the press conference with Rep. Slaughter how the industry funnels millions of its policyholders' premiums to big public relations firms that provide talking points to conservative talk show hosts, business groups and politicians. I also described how the PR firms set up front groups, again using your premium dollars and mine, to scare people away from reform.

What I'm trying to do as I write and speak out against the insurance industry I was a part of for nearly two decades is to inform Americans that when they hear isolated stories of long waiting times to see doctors in Canada and allegations that care in other systems is rationed by "government bureaucrats," someone associated with the insurance industry wrote the original script.

The industry has been engaging in these kinds of tactics for many years, going back to its successful behind-the-scenes campaign to kill the Clinton reform plan.

A story in Friday's New York Times about the origin of the absurdly false rumor that President Obama's health care proposal would create government-sponsored "death panels" bears out what I have been saying.

The story notes that the rumor emanated "from many of the same pundits and conservative media outlets that were central in defeating Bill Clinton's health care proposal 16 years ago, including the editorial board of The Washington Times, the American Spectator magazine and Betsy McCaughey, whose 1994 health care critique made her a star of the conservative movement (and ultimately, the lieutenant governor of New York)."

The big PR firms that work for the industry have close connections with those media outlets and stars in the conservative movement. One of their PR firms, which created and staffed a front group in the late '90s to kill the proposed "Patients' Bill of Rights," launched a PR and advertising campaign in conservative media outlets to drum up opposition to the bill.

The message: President Clinton "owed a debt to the liberal base of the Democrat Party and would try to pay back that debt by advancing the type of big government agenda on health care that he failed to get in 1994."

The industry goes to great lengths to keep its involvement in these campaigns hidden from public view. I know from having served on numerous trade group committees and industry-funded front groups, however, that industry leaders are always full partners in developing strategies to derail any reform that might interfere with insurers' ability to increase profits.

So the next time you hear someone warning against a "government takeover" of our health care system, or that the creation of a public health insurance option would send us down the "slippery slope toward socialism," know that someone like I used to be wrote those terms, knowing it might turn many of the very people who would benefit most from meaningful reform into unwitting spokespeople for the industry.

So we’ll have death panels just like England?

2009-08-14T10:15:00.001-05:00

Whoops, England doesn’t even have Legal Euthanasia ;) But anyway, one thing I find interesting about those criticizing “national health care” systems like England’s is that they’ve probably never asked a British person what they think of the NHS. Now of course no one is even proposing single payer right now, what’s being proposed is more akin to the Post Office. But anyway, CNN has a story about a sizable national response from the UK regarding comments made by Sarah Palin and other Conservatives:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/08/14/britain.america.nhs/index.html

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Britons including Prime Minister Gordon Brown have leapt to the defense of their creaking healthcare service after President Barack Obama's plans for a similar system in the United States were branded "evil" by Republicans.

Tens of thousands of people have joined a Twitter group expressing pride in the UK's National Health Service (NHS), which offers free taxpayer-funded medical care to all British residents, while leading politicians have spoken out in support.

Republican former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin earlier this week condemned Obama's plans to introduce a public heath insurance scheme as an "evil" move that would result in "death panels" deciding who would live or die.

Her criticism has been echoed by fellow Republicans in direct attacks on Britain's NHS. In an article, Former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich said British healthcare was run by "Orwellian" bureaucrats who put a price tag on life.

Sound off: What do you think of the British healthcare model?

The comments caused a storm of protest in the United Kingdom, with Prime Minister Brown wading into the argument via micro-blogging site Twitter, where a conversation chain, "#welovetheNHS", is generating huge online traffic.

A posting on the 10 Downing Street Twitter site on Wednesday read: "PM: NHS often makes the difference between pain and comfort, despair and hope, life and death. Thanks for always being there."

The message was followed by another, from Brown's wife Sarah, adding: "#welovetheNHS -- more than words can say."

Professor Stephen Hawking, author of "A Brief History of Time", also spoke out in favor of the British system, telling the Guardian newspaper that he owes his life to NHS treatment for the neuro-muscular dystrophy he has suffered from for 40 years.

"I wouldn't be here today if it were not for the NHS," he said. "I have received a large amount of high-quality treatment without which I would not have survived."

Despite the support, the 51-year-old NHS is regularly the target of criticism at home, with opposition politicians accusing Brown's government of mismanagement resulting in long waiting lists and a "lottery" in deciding who gets life-saving drugs and surgery.

Nevertheless, opposition Conservative Party leader David Cameron also added his voice to the defense campaign with a posting on his party's Web site.

" Millions of people are grateful for the care they have received from the NHS -- including my own family.

"One of the wonderful things about living in this country is that the moment you're injured for fall ill -- no matter who you are, where you are from, or how much money you've got -- you know that the NHS will look after you."

His statement followed comments from one of his own party members backing the Republican criticism of the NHS. Dan Hannan, a Conservative member of the European Parliament reportedly said in an interview that "he wouldn't wish it on anyone."

Religious right finally weighs in on Healthcare

2009-08-12T12:50:00.001-05:00

Officially making me thank god for Christianity :) Ok, so you can’t exactly count me as the religions right…. I guess you might say I’m more the “religious left” more often than not if that makes any sense to you. Anyway, finally we have an all important, absolutly critical issue in which real change can actually be affected in which my own personal “religious left” voter block (comprised of my one vote lol) and the religions right can get together on, HEALTHCARE!!! Thank god almighty Protistant Churches all over the nation are coming together to promote the necessity of healthcare, and reframe the debate in it’s proper context, as a moral issue plain and simple.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/11/health.care.religious.groups/index.html

(CNN) -- Religious groups in favor of health care reform have launched a national campaign to offset the loud opposition to President Obama's plan to overhaul the nation's health care system, organizers announced.

"This is as much a crisis of faith as it is a crisis of health care," said the Rev. John Hay Jr., senior pastor of West Morris Street Free Methodist Church in Indianapolis, Indiana.

"We just believe there is a better way."

He and others spoke in a telephone news conference Monday announcing the campaign.

"As a pastor, I believe access to health care is a profoundly moral issue," said the Rev. Stevie Wakes of Olivet Institutional Baptist Church in Kansas City, Kansas.

The campaign, called "40 days for Health Reform," includes a national television advertisement, a "sermon weekend," prayer meetings and a nationwide call-in with Obama on August 19, organizers said.

Prayer meetings emphasizing health care as a moral issue were taking place Tuesday in 45 cities across 18 states, organizers said. They expected about 4,000 people to participate.

"Healing and health are fundamental religious issues," said the Rev. Jim Wallis of Sojourners, one of the sponsors of the campaign along with PICO National Network, Faith in Public Life, Faithful America and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good.

Wallis stressed that participants in the campaign are not going to weigh in on particular policy questions. "It isn't political in a partisan way," he said. "This is a fundamental moral issue. ... You're going to hear the moral drumbeat of the faith community."

Rabbi David Saperstein of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, who also spoke on the conference call, said the current system "doesn't work for everyone."

Other groups, such as the Christian Coalition of America and the Family Research Council, are strongly opposed to Democratic proposals to overhaul the health care system, saying, among other things, that they would lead to government-funded abortion.

"We don't want abortion to enter this debate and sabotage health care reform," Wallis said. He noted the legislation now being discussed on Capitol Hill is far from a final version.

Opponents of health care reform proposals have confronted U.S. lawmakers at town hall meetings in recent days, drawing heavy media attention with their boisterous protests.

Ok, I think this is just funny:

2009-07-29T14:15:00.001-05:00

Mainly because it’s a skinny very attractive girl debating a chunky not so attractive guy about taxing junk foods. And yes, the skinny hot girl is all for taxing junk food, chunky dude is against. I think CNN knew exactly what they were doing choosing these two people, enjoy.

Concetta & the Cone Of Shame

2009-07-14T09:43:00.001-05:00

I just thought I’d share this great video of my puppy coming out of her spay. She’s super funny!

Good conclusion for New Haven firefighters.

2009-06-29T09:59:00.001-05:00

Just read this on CNN:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Supreme Court sided Monday with white firefighters in their workplace discrimination lawsuit, a divisive case over the role race should play in job advancement. In the split 5-4 vote, a majority of the justices ruled that the city of New Haven, Connecticut, improperly threw out the results of promotional exams that officials said left too few minorities qualified. Only one Latino and no African-American firefighters qualified for promotion based on the exam; the city subsequently decided not to certify the results and issued no promotions. A group of 20 mostly white firefighters sued, claiming "reverse discrimination." High court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor heard the case on her federal appeals court last year and sided with the city. The Supreme Court was being asked to decide whether there was a continued need for special treatment for minorities, or whether enough progress has been made to make existing laws obsolete, especially in a political atmosphere where an African-American occupies the White House. "Fear of litigation alone cannot justify an employer's reliance on race to the detriment of individuals who passed the examinations and qualified for promotions," wrote Justice Anthony Kennedy for the majority. The case has received added attention because Sotomayor was on the appellate court that dismissed the appeal of 19 white and one Latino firefighters. Sotomayor was part of a three-judge panel that ruled in February 2008 to uphold a lower court decision supporting New Haven's decision to throw out the results. In June 2008, Sotomayor was part of a 7-6 majority that denied a rehearing of the case by the full court. Legal analysts said they expected Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee will want to ask Sotomayor about her role in that case, as well as her comments about ethnicity and the bench. Souter bids farewell Also Monday, retiring Justice David Souter said goodbye to his Supreme Court colleagues in a brief statement he read from the bench, saying they had "touched me more than I can say." The 69-year-old justice said he is looking forward to his retirement in New Hampshire, but would retain fond memories of "the finest moments in my life." The court is in recess until early September.

I think that's a very good question asked, are current laws (affirmative action for instance) obsolete now? In an era where an African American occupies the White House, and he's being treated like any other (supremely popular) President. We don't need to un-level the playing field for minorities anymore (speaking as a Latino here), this argument that these exams are some how racist is just absurd. Trust me, anyone that puts their efforts into studying for these exams can and will succeed, whether the test is given in written or oral form is not the issue. I'm very glad that we're finally (slowly) begging to realize that identity politics doesn't end racism, it perpetuates it.

Fox reports that case against black panthers dropped?

2009-05-29T11:08:00.001-05:00

This extends to an incident in Philadelphia on election day '08, the New Black Panthers party showed up as "security" on election day. One of them, a "Minister King Samir Shabazz" was holding a night stick apparently intimidating voters (saw a video, it was intimidating). Now Fox is reporting that charges have been dropped for lord knows what reasons. I just wanted to comment here that while I guess I raise an eyebrow that any charges were dropped, it's worth noting that if you bother reading the Dismissal notice which Fox was kind enough to link to the following text appears:

"3. This dismissal does not extend to Defendant Minister King Samir Shabazz."

So apparently the guy with the night stick isn't getting off so easily, not in this dismissal anyway. Again, I personally don't think any charges should be dropped so over all this was disturbing to read... But at the very least, that one detail Fox choose not to report on, that the "guy with a night stick" isn't having charges dropped against him is some comfort. More over based on what I've found on google, Shabazz sounds like he might be a Panthers higher up, so if he's convicted this could be quite problematic for the group.

A catholic court?

2009-05-27T10:12:00.001-05:00

Not that this suddenly makes me 100% warm and fuzzy about Sotomayor, but an interesting piece of trivia is that when Sotomayor is confirmed (it seems she will be with little real resistance) the USA will have a "Catholic Court". 6/9 judges on the highest judicial bench will be Catholics.

More just sharing the Trivia here, since we Catholics don't typically vote in a Christian block like the Evangelical faiths which dominate this nation. I guess it does give me some hope that at the very the court will be less an easy tool for pro-choice extremists to use in the promotion of a support having abortions at all costs, which is cool for me personally.

Anyway, I'm still hoping the Senate takes a real close look at her, even though I know she'll probably just be ushered through the process. There just seems to be no extraneous information which would explain how her New Haven decision is justifiable in what should now be a post-race era, you know an era in our history when it is utterly clear that by and large race is a non-issue to us Americans. One would think that the best way to advance racial equality would be to stop bringing it to the forefront by making the playing field favor minorities in this way.

On the other hand, despite being a liberal leaning judge she did side with the Bush administration policy to not provide funds to international groups providing abortion services when a pro-choice group tried sueing the federal government for "discrimination". I just want to be sure this Judge can in fact ALWAYS be fair no matter what context in which "discrimination" is being challenge. That is, always rule against discrimination in whatever form it comes. New Haven for me is just that painful thorn in your side preventing me from being just totally fine with this judge.

But hey, at the very least Catholics will rule on sector of government lol ;)

Sotomayor....?

2009-05-26T11:15:00.001-05:00

I LOLed a bit when I read CNN's news article of Obama announcing Sotomayor as his pick for Supreme court. Why? Because Obama made a very big deal out of not choosing his pick based at the behest of special interest, along with suggestions that the pick would be purely based on who was most qualified. So who did we get? A Hispanic woman!! I had to LOL at that, in this case it's clear the choice was a compromise between various minority interest groups. As happy as I was about Obama winning, and despite the fact that I've agreed with most major policy decisions except perhaps some of the more controversial moral issues such as abortion, in the case I feel kind of like this is a joke.

It may be that Sotomayor is a very intelligent woman, but it also seems like she's very much caught up in a wave of an extraordinarily liberal understanding of the word "equality". Speaking as a minority, one issue I've disagreed with the Democratic party on for a very long time (since the 90s) is what that word means. Typically to the party it means that it's OK to discriminate against the white population in order to engineer more situations where minorities are unfairly advanced ahead of white people just because we feel like we need more minorities moving ahead with their careers. That's not equality, in fact it's not even a service to minorities it's a dis-service. It confirms in the minds of the raciest individual that minorities aren't smart enough to hack it on a level playing field, an assertion which I disagree with sharply.

Take for example (thanks Nikki) a case in which Sotomayor was recently asked to decide. Apparently the city of New Haven decided to whole sale throw out all firefighters promotion examination results because not enough, specifically, black people passed the test. In fact none passed with scores required to be promoted to Captain. It should be noted that individuals of about every other racial group (minority or not) were able to make it, including my own Hispanics. When the city realized this, they apparently decided that the test was racist, because apparently the firefighters could have been given oral exams which some how would have been more fair? Because what? Black people can't read? Some how I don't buy that particular argument, and I also find it quite offensive towards African-Americans because I KNOW THEY'RE BETTER THAN THAT! That's why I voted for one for PRESIDENT! Now she's going to be on the Supreme court to uphold what has been dubbed "reverse discrimination" (in my world all discrimination is equal, but whatever) come June? I guess this is one case where I would be sympathetic with the expected (by me anyway) Republican attempts to hold up Obama, and I hope that enough Democrats will see past party lines on this one and take a closer look at this candidate. They've managed to disagree with the President on one very important issue already much to my displeasure (Guantanamo), I hope they can manage it on this issue where it actually makes sense for them to stop the President.

On balance I still support Obama (in case there's any doubt after my little rant), but on this issue like a few others I just can't support him.

Puppy pictures

2009-05-21T15:44:00.001-05:00

Here are the requested puppy pictures, they're not the best quality since they were taken on my VX-6800, but they're decent enough.

All of your guns are belong to us?

2009-05-20T15:47:00.001-05:00

Well, just to point out how completely silly panicky gun owners are about the "dangerously liberal" new government are... Congress has passed and, if I read this right Obama is about to sign into law in about 2 seconds from the time that write this, new laws which expand gun rights

Once signed into law gun owners which conceal carry permits will be in the clear to bring their concealed weapons to national parks, that way bears can't mug them.

Edit

Opps, I don't think that wasn't the law I thought was being signed now. That is still in process, but I'm pretty sure a bill designed to end credit card abuse will be vetoed.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/20/house.guns/index.html

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Gun rights advocates found an unlikely ally in the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives on Wednesday as lawmakers passed a measure allowing concealed, loaded firearms to be carried in national parks.

The proposal passed 279-147, winning overwhelming Republican support and that of a significant number of more conservative rural and western Democrats.

The Senate voted 67-29 on Tuesday to attach an identical measure to a bill cracking down on credit card fees. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, was among 27 Democrats backing the measure.

Under the measure, any person with a state permit to carry a concealed weapon would be able to bring that weapon into parks and wildlife refuges unless a state law specifies otherwise.

The firearms language is now expected to be included in the final version of the credit card legislation, which lawmakers want to deliver to President Obama's desk by Memorial Day.

The language has been strongly pushed by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma, who saw an opportunity to grab on to a comparatively fast-moving target since Obama and the congressional Democratic leadership have made the credit card bill such a high legislative priority.

Coburn, speaking on the Senate floor Thursday, said his move "isn't a 'gotcha' amendment" but a genuine step to protect the Second Amendment. The measure would reverse a federal judge's decision in March to block a last-minute rule change by President George W. Bush to allow park visitors to carry concealed weapons.

"It was just an opportunity," Coburn spokesman Don Tatro said. The "congressional leadership has been trying to keep it from happening, and this was just the first opportunity."

Gun rights activists, however, have been cautious about declaring victory prematurely.

"Prior to the ink drying to anything that's signed, it's rare for a piece of legislation to not have ghosts haunting it," National Rifle Association spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said last week.

"Anything can happen."

Some congressional Democrats are dismayed by what they see as the continued success of the gun lobby in the face of a new Democratic administration and expanded Democratic majorities in Congress.

"The NRA is basically taking over the House and the Senate," said Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-New York. "If the NRA wins on each and every bill, the American people are going to suffer the most."

Lawsuites galore

2009-05-19T09:09:00.001-05:00

Seriously, why do we always have to sue? Swine Flue could have come from anywhere for any reason. But we need someone to blame, and we need some one to pay out the billions of dollars to someone that lost a loved one so they can buy back their loved one from death.... Oh wait, no amount of money can bring someone back from the dead, oh well I guess he can just use the cash to buy a private island.

A whole lot of new

2009-04-23T16:47:00.001-05:00

So, in the while since my last few posts a whole lot in my life has changed for the better. So I figured I'd go ahead and write it up here for you guys :) First and foremost, I have a new girlfriend! Her name is Stephanie and she is a completely wonderful gal whom I am very lucky to have met! I have so much fun hanging out with her! She's already turning into my best friend as well as my girlfriend, which is totally awesome! What can I say, she's gorgeous, we're on the same page on all the most important issues you could think of and she wants to see star trek in iMax!!!! I mean holy crap! I didn't think they even made girls that cool! ;) We've spent a whole lot of time together over the last few weeks and it really just keeps getting better. It's amazing how happy I get when she emails or calls, it's been a good while since I found someone I was this taken with :)

If that wasn't cool enough, I'm also finally moving out of my smaller apartment into a rental town home. Yeah, it's still a rental but it's a big step up so I'm very excited. I figure I'll be ready to move into my own house in a year or two which I'm extremely happy about. The new diggs are in the same apartment building as my current place, in fact I'm on the same street. But it's 2 floors, absolutely gigantic and has a small back yard. I'm happy! :)

The last new thing... I decided to get a puppy since I finally have enough space for one. She's so adorable it isn't funny. After spending a good deal of time thinking up dog names with my girlfriend (with much appreciated assistance from my sis Alessia and friend Nikki) we've settled on Consetta as the name. It's italian for Conception, it sounded nice to me, so it stuck :) Stephanie gets full credit for finding the name while I was out shopping. Consetta is still a bit nervous and shy in her new diggs, and the move this weekend to the town house will probably throw her off some. But.. she's warming up already, I think with just a little more time she's going to be A-OK! I'm sure you guys want to see a picture, so I've posted it below:

It's the Easter season again!!!!

2009-04-08T15:26:00.001-05:00

So I figured I'd post the lyrics for my errr umm... favorite easter chant. 10pts for anyone that figures out where it came from ;)

Sanctum Piter oteum, Deus ore uneum.
Hippitus hoppitus reus homine.
In suspiratoreum, lepus in re sanctum.
Hippitus hoppitus Deus Domine.

Coach Carlo?

2009-04-07T22:13:00.001-05:00

I don't know, sounds like an interesting idea to me.... It would certainly afford me the excuse to rename my badly misnamed blog ;) So anyone who's read the past few posts should know about a couple months ago or so I bought Team Beach Body's P90X product put together by celeb trainer Tony Horton. Well it seems like there's an opportunity for me to join in with their "independent coaches" program. Basically it's their way of increasing sales staff when you get down to it, but there's added fun. For instance you also end up helping keep people motivated and in the virtual gym they have set up that they call a WOWY (incidentally, TBB you should be looking at bluray, imagine WOWY workout on your TV while you actually work out!). Anyway, helpful hints aside it sounds like it could be a fun opportunity to really take my new hobby from mild interest to more involved levels. There's also the possibility of making a little $$ on the side.

The down side to this? There are some fees associated with becoming a coach. It's fairly nominal but I do have to consider I'll be paying out monthly for this. I'm considering it anyway, it sounds like it could be fun. It also sounds like it would be a great chance for me to learn a lot more about fitness. Heck who knows, maybe it'll lead to me being the next rock star celeb trainer in 15 yrs or so ;) Ok, maybe I'm aiming a little high on that one.

Maybe this what Rollins was talking about

2009-03-05T15:30:00.001-05:00

So I thought I'd post this video of a speech Obama made at the start of a Conference he put together with the goals of reforming our health care system. It should be noted that the republican's response to this conference was to warn of Socialism under the Obama administration.

Call me a socialist if you want, but I see healthcare reform to the ends of universal access as being the only decent Christian thing to do. I could care less wether that's Socialist or Communist, some things are quite simply more important than political ideology.

Quote of the month:

2009-03-05T14:45:00.001-05:00

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/04/rollins.republicans/index.html

The battle to be the "de facto leader" of this party is akin to the question of who wants to steer the Titanic after it hit the iceberg. Who represents the party or its values is not relevant when only 26 percent of voters have a positive impression of the party at all and only 7 percent very positive, according to the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News survey.

P90X

2009-02-17T23:26:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone, been a good while since I last wrote a post here so I figured I'd write a quicky tonight while I read up on some nutritional information. I've decided, for the first time in my life to go ahead and join a fitness program to help me get into shape. This would be as opposed to the hap-hazard go to the gym, do a bunch of stuff and maybe change up my routine some if I some some really in shape person doing a particular exercise.

The program, as the title of my blog post might suggest is P90X. It's cost, is 3 easy payments of ~$35 or so. What you get is something like 12 DVD's with different workouts, a book discussing the workout program, and how to get through your first 90 days with the program, as well as some details about the different exercises. In addition you get a book all about nutrition, as well as a cookbook full of recipes.

If all this wasn't enough you also get access to their website, were you can connect with other team beach body program members (P90X is only one out of many programs they have), which also offers a diet planner for your workout, with daily menus and a host of other great features. I have to say, short of joining a very intense gym like a boxing gym this is probably the best fitness package I've seen. And a lot cheaper when you consider the more specialized gyms (like boxing) run $80/mo or more usually not including lessons.

I'm very positive having gotten started with this program, I think it's going to get me the results that I want. I've gone ahead and taken the "before" pictures that the program suggests. I cheated a little, I didn't take them till tonight and I'm on my 3rd day into the program. I'm pretty sure though that what's in the picture is all me and "my workout program" as opposed to what P90X is going to do to me. I'm not sharing these pictures just now, but I may very well share them in 90 days when I'm done.

Congrats Paulessia

2009-01-03T03:25:00.001-05:00

I'd love to just say congratulations to my sister and new broinlaw Paul for having the best wedding anyone could ever hope to have... ever.... This took place a few days ago on the 31st, I haven't gotten around to writing about it yet but I wanted to say something tonight really quickly before passing out (as it were). So congrats guys!!!

On a personal note, I'd like to say I couldn't be happier with my new broinlaw! Seriously, Paul rocks hard core, I can't imagine anyone else in this world being better for my sister! I know he's going to take good care of her, and she's absolutely going to do a great job taking care of him.

Oh yeah, and happy new year everyone! I hope y'all spent it as soberly as I did ;)

Ooooh!!!! And yes... A super special thanks needs to go out to Kelly Post for being my wedding date!! Kelly, you were the best wedding date ever!

Lets all attack Christmas?

2008-12-05T11:19:00.001-05:00

Another one from CNN,

Atheists put anti-God sign near Nativity scene

It's beginning to look a lot like -- a war over Christmas. The Freedom from Religion Foundation has a placard up in the Legislative Building in Olympia, Washington. 1 of 2 Alongside a Nativity scene at the Legislative Building in Olympia, Washington, a sign put up by an atheist organization celebrates the winter solstice. But it's the rest of the sign that has some residents and Christian organizations calling atheists Scrooges for attacking the celebration of Jesus Christ's birth. "Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds," the sign says in part.

Now certainly the people who put the sign there have every right in the world to do so. After all they did choose a public Nativity scene to put up their protest signs. But for me here it's question of taste and hypocrisy. First of all, it's the holiday season, the one time of the year when we're all supposed to try harder to get along and be happier. If you're an atheist why not find your own way's to celebrate the season rather than try raining on Christian's parades? Heck, Santa has basically gone from being a Saint (Nicholas, yes he's a real saint) in the Roman Catholic world to being a very secular creation. Just put Santa up in your yard with 8 tiny rain deer and be a little merrier.

Then comes the hypocrisy, no doubt like many these atheists are turned off by some sects of Christianity going out and evangelizing the faith telling people they're going to go to hell if they don't believe exactly what they believe. To be honest I can understand annoyance with that, and I do see it as unfortunate that not all branches of the faith are able to live in peace with those who do not share their views. So what are these protesters doing? Evangelizing atheism telling anyone of any faith that they're a bunch of idiots. Well then, that's a big improvement over what they claim to be so upset about.

Been meaning to write about the auto industry request for help...

2008-12-04T09:49:00.001-05:00

But I just haven't had time to, but I guess for starts it really burns me that the auto industry is having to jump through nearly impossible hoops just to get a low interest loan while congress almost literally is sending fleets of airplanes to rain down money and wealth on the US banking system. Particularly distressing to me is the following CNN report:

So let me get this straight, it's ok for the Federal government to nationalize our banking system by giving healthy banks 90 million+ in free money so they can grow their business but it's not ok some how to give Ford, GM and Chrysler a low interest loan so they can continue to operate their businesses while those same banks getting free money hoard their loot and refuse to lend any of that cash to anyone? Why are we doing this? I keep hearing Republicans in particular bang their fists on the table and shout about conservative economic principals, supporting the free market yada yada. So I wonder how those same politicians justify how we can be so willing to let the back bone of America's industrial sector go, compromising national security as well as spiraling us into great depression while we rain down free money with no string attached on healthy banks.

eHarmony caves, will start gay dating service

2008-11-20T00:42:00.001-05:00

For the life of me I have no idea why they would to be perfectly honest, here's the story from cnn

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/11/19/eharmony.same.sex.matches/index.html

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Online dating site eHarmony will create a service for same-sex matching in a settlement of a 2005 complaint that the company's failure to offer such a service was discriminatory. The new same-sex matching service from eHarmony, Compatible Partners, is set to debut by March 31. Under terms of the agreement with the New Jersey attorney general's office, eHarmony Inc. will start the service, called Compatible Partners, by March 31. "With the launch of the Compatible Partners site, our policy is to welcome all single individuals who are genuinely seeking long-term relationships," said Antone Johnson, eHarmony vice president of legal affairs.

So here's the deal, at least for me.... I think gay people absolutely deserve to have dating websites. There's no question about that, after all I do think that they are people like any others with rights just like the rest of us. That's all fine, but here's what I see.

A private organization decides to develop a product. This product is a dating website, which is tailored to cater to and promote Christian/(religious) ideals while facilitating a means for people to meet, get together and presumably fall in love and get married. With this website came a matching system oriented on matching straight couples for the best possible chance of resulting in a long lasting, committed relationship and hopefully marriage.

Now in comes the problem, in this case the gay community. Apparently they felt like a website oriented towards a religious/straight demographic was some how discriminatory. I'm sorry but here's my question, how is this even a issue of discrimination or a violation of rights in any way? You see, eHarmony isn't a public website, it's a product. Yes folks, that's right believe it or not it is actually a product, developed by a company which employs real people who make their living maintaining and selling this product. This product is a dating website, which was designed to cater to the needs of a specific demographic, being straight religious people. Perhaps religion wasn't stressed to the point where they won't let you in, but hey I've been on that site. If there's anything I've learned, religion is important there. So how is this discriminatory? Perhaps if it was a free, public website I might actually see their point, but that's not what this is. It-is-a-product. In my opinion this makes this a classic example of the tyranny of the minority. The gay community is just about literally inventing new rights to ensure the straight religious community can't have a product like this tailored to their needs. It really makes me wonder how they would feel if I were to find a random gay dating website and sue it for the exact same reasons.

The evil of religious cults...

2008-11-13T14:51:00.001-05:00

So CNN has been running a series of articles on Jim Jones and his cult coensiding with the 30th anniversary of the Jonestown suicide. Usually I wouldn't bother blogging about something like that, but they decided to include 4 audio recordings taken from tapes of Jones in a sermon as well as other situations such as punishing a girl for some reason with a snake.

Quite honestly, it's the single most evil thing I've ever heard in my life. It really shocks me that he managed to maintain any following what so ever. Obviously I'm no expert on cult mentality, but I think if I saw something like the snake punishment that would trigger something in me to fight this guy. Anyway, if you're curious to read up on and hear what I'm talking about click the link below. A warning, the audio recordings while censored for language content aren't very sanitized and are very disturbing.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/11/13/jonestown.jim.jones/index.html#cnnSTCText

Obama "Tanned" a racist comment?

2008-11-07T09:29:00.001-05:00

So the Italian PM the other day was discussing new leadership here in the USA and over in Russia yesterday, and came out with a joke that is at least certainly causing quite a stir over there. He commented that "I told him [Medvedev] that he [Obama] has everything you need to reach an agreement. He's young, handsome and even tan".

Now lets bare in mind something here, the man telling the joke here is someone who is always tan him self, and has spent thousands on plastic surgery trying to look much younger than his 72 years of age (it worked). So the question is, was this a racist joke? Honestly I don't think so, frankly I think it was just a joke, and more over a actually a complement. More over, personally I think that particularly given the historic nature of what happened, and what it means for race relations not just here in America, but also world wide.... Perhaps we all just need to lighten up some? Stop being so sensitive? I'm not saying our all of our race relation issues were solved yesterday, but maybe if yesterday brought us a long way down the road towards totally normalized race relations, perhaps what will take us the rest of the way is us just treating each other as total equals. By not being so overly sensitive, by being willing and able to laugh at each other and our selves.

So to anyone here in this nation that might be upset, and to my fellow secondary countrymen (dual citizenship with Italy here) all I have to say is. Lighten up and smile some!

Ok, I have a confession

2008-11-05T20:16:00.001-05:00

The fact of the matter is I have plenty of time to write the blog post I've been wanting to write now. I've been home from work for 2 hours, I spent that time checking CNN to see if NC's state officials were ready yet, with 100% of all precincts in the US accounted for to declare that Obama carried our state, they haven't yet, and chatting on the phone with my sister. Now I'm finally sitting at my keyboard with the profound realization that frankly, I don't even know where to start with this. So I think I'll cop out tonight by offering up one more embedded video, of what I believe is the most inspirational portion of what I think will be remembered as one of the greatest presidential speeches of all time. You know I'm really amazed with my self for getting caught up in all this the way I have, I usually stay stubbornly independent and skeptical on general principal.

I still don't have time to discuss my feelings...

2008-11-05T10:45:00.001-05:00

Over all, but I think it's important to share this video with everyone. This is Republican Strategist Mark Corallo discussing why Barack Obama won, why he and not John McCain were the right candidate for the times and how the republican party should go about rebuilding after this massive defeat. His thoughts though, I think are crucially important particularly for those republicans who are very disappointed by the Obama victory. Watch below:

So, the most important point I think is this basic one:

We as Americans want something to vote for. It seems like the Republican party as a whole kind of fell into a neocon trap of not only moving far right (and pretending like that was the center), but also running on a platform of trying to give the nation something to vote against not something to vote for. Instead of hope, we all to often were given doubt. Instead of unity we were given divisiveness. This seeped even into the McCain campaign despite the principals of the man running for office.

I have a lot to say about last night...

2008-11-05T07:32:00.001-05:00

But not enough time to say it just right now, I'm going to be working on something tomorrow evening though. Probably long, anyway for now all I can say is we live in a different country, heck different world than the one we woke up in yesterday.

Get out the early vote....? Daang!

2008-11-03T14:15:00.001-05:00

Nope, I'm actually not calling on anyone to go out and vote early. It's actually too late for that, so there's not campaigning going on in my blog today. Though a little OT, if you haven't already early voted either with an absentee ballot or an official early voting station please do be absolutly sure to go out and support your candidate of choice or at the very least do us all the curtsy of not complaining about the other guy winning.

Anyway, back on message as our Vice Presidential candidates would say! I just can't believe how many people have early voted in here in the USA already!! I pulled this off of CNN.Com today

So far, more than 24.4 million voters have cast ballots in states where early voting is allowed, providing convenience for voters and, in theory, rescuing poll workers from an overwhelming turnout on Tuesday.

Link to CNN Source

I'm not up on what the average voter turnout is, but I know it's usually a small percentage and 24.4 million people sounds like one whole heck of a lot of people going out and voting to me. That's just astounding to me, and I think totally wonderful that many people (some for the first time) have chosen to participate in this years very important election. I think as of late last week CNN was saying that in NC alone 33% of likely voters had already voted in the early elections. If you click the link above you'll see that congress is already considering federally mandating early voting, I think that's a wonderful idea personally. It would solve so many voting headaches and very likely have a dramatic impact on the percentage of the voting population of our country.

Hooray for early voting and democracy this year. If you ask me, regardless of who wins and our personal feelings on that matter. We should all feel a little proud of our selves for stepping up like this. If you as me, all us voters should get cookies, any volunteers to bake? Anyone? Anyone? No? Darnet!!! :(

Kindness of strangers....

2008-10-27T13:51:00.001-05:00

Was listening to a CNN video stream while I work and I just heard about this.

Well, here's something you love to hear about... A lady in texas recently found her self in a position that many in this nation have found them selves, their house being foreclosed on and her life in disarray. Apparently this lady decided to go to the auction at which her house was being auctioned off for some closure. As I'm sure we can all imagine this was a very emotional time for her, and she was sitting there a the auction crying.

Well another lady (a true one) named Marylin (sorry missed her last name) noticed her crying and asker her what was wrong. The lady who lost her house and related her story to Marylin who apparently really took her story to heart. What she did was I think quite astounding, he bought the house for the lady who lost it and gave it right back to her. Can you guys believe that? I actually heard the story twice on today's CNN news feed and I still can't believe it my self.

If you can get away with it, I suggest you turn on the feed and see if it pops back up again.

More politics

2008-10-22T09:19:00.001-05:00

Post update:
So Palin is now trying to say she was just trying to answer this question in a way a 3rd grader would understand. Nice try, but I don't think anyone will buy it, why? Because explaining things in terms a child will understand doesn't mean you have to explain it incorrectly. Try this Gov. Palin:
Well so and so, the role of the vice president is to help explain to congress why they should support the President's ideas. Also sometimes they can vote in the Senate if there is a tie. See that? Simple and correct.

Hey everyone, seems like everyone is getting swept up in the elections this year my self included. I don't usually post this kind of thing to my blog, but it's just one more nail in the McCain/Palin tickets coffin for me. Yes yes, I already voted but I guess it just makes me even more glad I voted Obama, check the cnn vid below

I'm sorry governor Palin, but the VP is *NOT* "In charge" of the Senate nor do they get to make policy changes for the purposes of manipulating congress to make them more agreeable with the executive branch.

I can only guess that she must have failed her civics class back in her school days, if she hadn't perhaps she would understand the concept of checks and balances. There's a reason why the legislative branch is separate from the executive branch, it's to ensure that the president doesn't become too powerful and start moving this great nation more in the direction of being an autocracy.

I can only hope that the McCain/Palin ticket never makes it to the white house. I really don't think this nation needs continued trickle down economics, nor does it need continued manipulation of the legislative branch by a VP that doesn't understand the constitution and it especially doesn't need an indefinite continuation of the war in Iraq.

Now I know some of you may think "well she's not all that off base, the constitution says she can vote in the case of the tie and that she's the president of the senate". Here's the thing, there's really not a lot of room for interpretation here, the ability to vote in the case of a time means just that, she can vote strictly in the case of a tie. What this doesn't mean is that you can just "go in there and make policy changes" unilaterally. The VP can not just walk in to the senate and change voting procedures, for instance or other general rules, guide lines and procedures for the purposes of making the senate friendly to the executive branch. Article 1 of the constitution specific here for a reason, it's to ensure that legislative branch can continue to operate freely of improper influence from the executive branch.

Voting

2008-10-18T16:31:00.001-05:00

So I've officially done it, I've officially voted in the 2008 presidential elections through north carolian's early voter system. More or less, this system is based on the absentee ballot system, only instead of filling out the ballot at home and mailing it in, you go to one of the states designated early voting places and vote as if you were voting on election day.

So who did I vote for? Hmm, should I keep that a secrete? Leave you all in suspense? Naaaw, I voted Obama. The most important issues for me are the war on terror, and how it's been going in the wrong direction, and the future of healthcare in our great nation. I strongly feel we need out of Iraq, a new focus on Afghanastan and Al-Quida/The Taliban (particularly the capture or death of Osama Bin-Ladin), Iraq.... Lets face it, there's only one reason why George W. Bush invaded Iraq, so he can show up his father by ousting Saddam Hussain, that was in. Pure and simple he just wanted to prove he could finish the job his father was smart enough to leave unfinished years ago.

As far as healthcare, I'm a very strong believer that there needs to be a safety net for all american citizens, no one should go with out the medical attention they require. That's excatly what the Senator from Illinois is proposing, not communism or socialism, a safety net pure and simple. Basically for those of us with employer provided healthcare, we're keeping our current healthcare pure and simple. For those people that have employer provided care, but have to pay crushing fees to get coverage, the Obama administration is going to make sure your employee buy in price gets reduced significantly. For those of you who just don't have any sort of healthcare, you can buy into a federal plan, very similar to the very same socialized medicine system that Senator McCain has had access to his entire life.

So anyway, that's my adventure for today, and the reasons why I'm currently feeling more "GoBama" than pro-mccain and voiced my opinion appropriately. For everyone else out there, I strongly urge that you make sure you get out and vote!! Have a great weekend y'all

Hero's...

2008-07-09T19:51:00.001-05:00

Ok... So admit it... It's finally happened... After being told repeatedly that I would become addicted to the Hero's TV show if I watched it, I give... I am in fact, addicted to Hero's... It all started with a Zune video download, and posts on the high def digest forums... I was told there again that I'd become addicted to this show there too, and finally I went and watched the pilot... It was alright, in and of it's self not quite crack, but entertaining. But then I went to amazon.com, and noticed that the HD DVD's for the whole of Season 1 were selling for $30 through one of their vendors. So I bit, what the hell, the pilot was good, why not get a full season in quality HD for $30? I mean, when the heck else am I going to get that kind of deal? I sure won't with the upcoming bluray's.

So, last night the HD DVD's finally came in and I watched episode 2. Again, very entertaining though not quite crack.. More like, Marijuana. So today, after helping out a friend and spending a lovely day at work I decided to watch Episode 3 and an episode of Space: Above and Beyond (I got those on DVD as well)... Well, I started at 6pm, and now it's 8:47 and I'm on episode 6 of Hero's.

Over all, a very well done series and I like very much. I suspect that I won't have any trouble catching up with Season 1 very quickly. All in all, I'm not quite sure if it's 100% on battlestar level, but.... It certainly will keep me from jumping off a cliff when the show is finally finished off this season (ok, slight dramatization).

The wedding gift...

2008-07-05T01:27:00.001-05:00

Ok, for starters just to get it out of the way incase anyone didn't know my sister is now engaged to her boyfriend of well, since forever I guess... A really great guy called Paul Long, he totally rocks and I totally look forward to having his as a bro in law!

So, as for the title of tonight's little story... I gave them their wedding gift a smidge early, they're getting married Dec 31st of this year. But, ya know I figure whatever get the gift, give it to them and let them enjoy it some while they go through all the fun and excitement (and stress) that is planning thee most important day of anyone's life. So rather than getting to the point and just telling everyone what I got them, I'm going to write a small blurb about how I went about giving them this gift. Because if you know me, then you know I can't just straight up give them their gift, I have to punk them first!

So Paul comes over tonight presumably to watch movies with the family (being my family) tonight. My sister is really excited for me to see knocked up (we did finally watch some of it). So he comes over, and he's chillaxn' with us all talking about this and that having a good old time. I had told them I was going to give them their wedding gift tomorrow just before we went to our picnic thing, but since he happened to be over I figured what the hell, I'll just give it to them now! So I say "hey, do you guys just want me to give you your wedding gift now?", the obvious answer here is yes ;) (or the only correct answer I'll accept anyway j/k)

So at this point, I make a big show about aaaalright, well me me go downstairs and haul it up here for you guys! At this point I promptly run downstairs, haul out the gifts but leave them in the basement. After moving them I ran back too their hiding spot and pulled out 2 McDonalds Happy Meal bags I had saved since yesterday for this evening's little production.

At this point I run quickly back upstairs with the happy meal bags hidden behind my back and say "aaalright guys you ready?!? I got you.... Happy Meals!!!!" while presenting them with the happy meal bags. At this point their smiling but also seem to be trying to figure out just what the hell I'm up to. So I go ahead and inform them to open up the happy meal bags and see what they got inside. Inside my sisters (which she found what she was supposed to right away, you go sis!) was the McDonalds girl toy, and a print out of a picture of a 42" Toshiba Regza LCD TV, she found the print out first which was immediately followed by "OH MY GOD ARE YOU KIDDING?!?", then Paul opens his up and find Optimus Prime lol.... I told him to dig a little deeper because in his was a picture of a Playstation 3.

Once they had the pictures of what I gave them, I led them downstairs and showed them the real things. It didn't take long for us to decide that indeed we were driving to Paul's and setting it up! So, it's 2:30 now, I just got back from the future bro in law's place (and watching most of knocked up), and I have to say I'm really happy with how this all went down. Actually finally getting to do this after having planned this moment out for months has been completely awesome! My sister loved the happy meal idea, and is actually saving the happy meal bags lol.

So, for now... It's really darn late and I need to get some rest because we're having our family/friends 4th of july (yes a day late) slash regata picnic tomorrow and I suppose it would be convinent to be awake for it. Good night all, hope you all had 4th of july's as good as mine.

Hey

2008-06-10T00:21:00.001-05:00

Been a great while, and of course I"m posting when I should be asleep. Not much to say other than my appartment has been invaded by horse flys, it's really getting annoying. The exterminators apparently only come on fridays, so until then ::sigh::

It's computer upgrade season

2008-03-28T07:32:00.001-05:00

Well, that time has finally come upon me again... It's been about 2 years since the last time I messed around with upgrading my computer and it's time to get my system updated with newer hardware! So the buying has started (very slowly), so far I got me some memory and a new sound card. I think next month will be the video card. Very exciting stuff, it'll probably get me PC gaming again for a little while lol. Here what I've got:

AMD Athlon64 X2 3800+ (overcloked), nVidia Geforce 7800GT, 2GB of DDR400 memory, about 700GB hard drive, Asus K8N SLI Premium montherboard, sound blaster audigy sound card (doesn't work in vista), and the usual trimmings.

What I'm planning on going to is...

AMD Phenom 9600 Quad-core Black Edition (2.3GHz), ATI Radeon HD 3870, Asus M3A32-MVP, OCZ DDR2 memory (bought PC2-6400, it was cheap - Planned 4GB), SoundBlaster x-fi xtreamgamer fatality pro (on it's way) - other than that I'm keeping everything else the same.

So, I'm going with a slightly higher end midrange system than I went with last time around. As an added bonus I'm not doing this upgrade at a time when I *KNOW* much better stuff is coming around the corner so this system should feel relivent longer lol.

It's been a while...

2008-03-19T00:02:00.001-05:00

Since I last posted, so I figured I'd go ahead and post something up really quick before bed time roles around. Well ok, there are those who may argue that probably it should have rolled by now, but frankly I just don't want to go to bed, so there! na na na na naaaa na!

So, I just got off of some pretty powerful antibiotics... When I last posted that I got sick I figured I just had a simple flu... But oh no, things couldn't stay there, I had to run off and get me some bronchitis. First time they put me on antibiotics it didn't completely knock out the infection, hence the strong stuff. I *think* it might finally have completely knocked it out, we'll see. I feel better, good enough to go to the gym which I did yesterday if only for just a little while. Hopefully I will now stay better for a good long while.

I finally got my Wii back from Kathy a little while ago, so I had a get together last weekend. Actually ended up being quite the social weekend for me, Wii party on friday which many showed up for. Saturday I ended up hanging out with Joey and Laura and a bunch of others, we watched the Big Lebowski in HD on a rather nice Panny tube HD TV (1080i of course). It was great, there was one majorly funny movie, tones a junk food and beer, who could possibly ask for more? Then Sunday I played games with Trevor again which is turning into a weekly thing. So that was all fun stuff.

No real updates with the family... Ok wait, I'm lying, my sister is engaged to a great guy name Paul Long. I think they're a great couple and I can't even begin to blog about how happy I am for them. They totally rock and I'm so looking forward to having Paul as a bro in law. I've even started out planning wedding gift idea's... Yes yes, even though I have no idea where they're going to be living, who all is getting them what and all those other trivial little details. So that's the big news with my family, my mom's cancer treatments go well, no real updates. She's on her second chemo treatment I do believe, she's handling the whole thing as well as anyone could possibly expect. I'm glad that with all the research they've poured into breast cancer the desies has just become "one of those things you treat and then you move on" for the most part. I'm well aware that's not how it is for everyone, but massive improvements have been made which I'm very grateful for.

As for me, well... I guess I'd say at this point in my life I'm generally not the happiest camper. It's nothing specific I suppose, I certainly couldn't pin it on any one thing. Hence I'm up most nights at least this late not wanting to go to bed, and continuously buying new HD movies (spending is a bad habit when I'm down). Most recently I got, Elizabeth, Dragon Heart, I Robot, Cars (great animation), The big Lebowski, Ice Age and DVE (Digital Video Essentials) to calibrate my TV. All these in high def, most in HD DVD at insane firesale/close out pricing which would be why I can actually afford this. Oh yeah, I also got me umbrella chronicles for my wii, it's a fun Resident Evil arcade type shooter. You use the Wii gun thing (also got this, it was cheap) much like you would use one of those faux uzzis in a quarter arcade game. It's fairly challenging and a lot of fun, I think I'm going to be addicted for a while. So at any rate, yeah I've just been down and I guess I'm just looking for stuff to keep me occupied. I'm still currently on my quest to find a girl, I've had luke warm success. Most recently I went on a series of initally really promising dates with an Italian las, but in the end she's going to be going back to school for her masters, in either NY or MA so I guess that pretty much puts an end to stuff. So I'm back to trying to meet people. I'm thinking about seeing if I can get one of my friends to go out with me on a regular basis to something where we can socialize with... you know, other people our age that we *DON'T* already know. Typically I don't like meeting people this way since it's such a crap shoot as to whether you'll meet anyone that's even worth 5 minutes of conversation, but who knows.

anyway, seriously now... Bed time.

Oh yeah, I've recently become addicted to Jericho and have found it to be the second best TV show still running. Sadly my 1st fav, Battlestar Galactica is on it's last season :(

Sick :(

2008-02-24T14:08:00.001-05:00

That would sum up the entirety of my entire last week. I was out of the office and in the recliner napping on and off all day long (tv running of course) and... well that was about it from tuesday - thursday. I literally didn't have any energy to do anything else at all. Friday things picked up a bit, I finally had energy to start doing laundry which was great, and slowly since I've been feeling little bits better. Now I'm finally finishing up the task of cleaning up the house and removing all the "sick" from it. I don't know why, it really feels so great to do a post sick clean up, makes me feel like I'm doing something proactively to finish off this flu. Well, hope everyone else has had a better week than mine. Talk to you guys later.

Ugh, bluray :(

2008-02-14T09:35:00.001-05:00

That's right folks, the service people at best buy fail miserably. With in days of finally getting my bluray player back, the picture started dropping yet again. Seriously, I think all these people did was update the firmware, scratch their heads (perhaps other area's of their body) and say "Hmmm, well that must have fixed it"! God I'm annoyed. When I call them today I'm going to ask about just getting a replacement model. At the rate we're going I'll never be able to watch bluray movies.

On a more positive note, I did get my Onkyo TX-SR605 in, the receiver is amazing. I'm still in the process of getting it all set up. One disappointment, it seems like my HD DVD player only streams stereo PCM over HDMI (model HD-A2). Or at least that is what I'm experiencing right now, I'm pretty sure it's just the HD DVD player because I tested with the (frustratingly broken) DB-P1400 Blu player and I got surround to work (excellently) using DTS-MA, TrueHD and 5.1 PCM.

Oh well, hooray for consumer electronics? :P

UPS...

2008-02-12T09:30:00.001-05:00

...knows the fastest way to get to Raleigh from Cincinnati.

2/12/2008 8:17:00 AM IN TRANSIT TO GREENSBORO, NC US

2/12/2008 8:16:00 AM DEPARTURE SCAN SOUTH CHARLESTON, WV US

2/12/2008 6:52:00 AM ARRIVAL SCAN SOUTH CHARLESTON, WV US

2/12/2008 1:35:00 AM DEPARTURE SCAN CINCINNATI, OH US

2/11/2008 5:54:00 PM ORIGIN SCAN CINCINNATI, OH US

2/9/2008 5:23:00 PM BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED US

Home theater upgrades galore

2008-02-07T23:58:00.001-05:00

Yeah, I know... it's a mixed bag on my blog. Some times I write about what's really going on in my life, other times just new gadgets. This is one of those new gadget posts. I've decided to go ahead and upgrade my audio receiver in my Home Theater. I managed to find thee receiver I've been wanting for $200 off of what you get it for anywhere (Onkyo TX-605SR, $300 refurb $500 normal).

This bad boy is just the thing I need to complement my set up. It's got 2 HDMI 1.3a inputs (for my HD DVD and Bluray DVD players), plus optical and digital coax inputs for my HD DVR and X-Box 360 (I still have my optical switch, so I'll add on my TV to that for the Wii). The absolut coolest thing about this receiver, it works with all of the new advanced audio codecs found on my HD DVD's and Bluray discs, TrueHD, DTS-HD/MA and 7.1 PCM over HDMI.

Eventually I will need to upgrade my speakers as well since the onces I have are fairly low end small bookshelf speakers (yamkaha). But I've already found some Polk speakers ($700 for 5.1) that I'll eventually be replacing what I have with. Till then, what I've got will work pretty well.

Super Bowl Sunday

2008-02-04T23:12:00.001-05:00

Super bowl sunday was a blast here in NC! I had a bit of a get together, with people showing up at 6pm. In all I had 7 house guests then there was the roommate (lori) and my self. Included among my guests here were Joe and Laura and their cute as a button tot Eddy (almost 2yrs old). There was beer, there was pizza, there was making small fry's giggle and of course there was the main attraction featuring the NY Giants beating out the NE Pats on my 50" HD screen.

We did have one snafu during playback. I have my DVR set up to automatically tape star trek, which Sci-Fi channel had a marathon going... Now, in theory this should not be a problem. in a "perfect" world my DVR would quietly tape Star Trek. But oh no, not my Scientific Atlantic DVR. Nope, it decided that the super bowl ended at 10pm (which it didn't) and that I would rather be watching star trek than the big game! Just imagine, the cry of 9 people in unison shouting "NNNNOOOOOOOO" as what was "OMG 10 seconds left in the game can the Pats pull it out!" because Captain Jonathan Archer grabbing a phase pistol so he can save enterprise crewmen! Yeah, it was that bad. Fortunately I was able to change the channel back with 1 second left in the game, and we found that there was no miraculous turn around.

On a personal level, I was glad to see the Giants win. I'm not really a fan of either team, but I do like seeing the underdog come out on top. Well, I hope everyone else had as good a super bowl sunday as I did.

First post from laptop.

2008-01-28T16:59:00.001-05:00

Taking a second to write my first post from my laptop (yes, at the office), so it will be quick. Not much going on other than it's officially confirmed that my mom need chemotherapy so we're waiting for that to begin. As far as dosages and whatever else is involved we have no clue yet, as soon as we do I'll post here.

In other news, girl I've been emailing back and forth with disappeared off the face of the earth last weekend (and week actually). So I suppose I can only take that as a not interested? Or maybe she's too busy? Perhaps swallowed by the Bermuda triangle? Lord only knows, whatever the case I guess she's officially written off the list and I'm moving on ::sigh::

Up late again...

2008-01-24T01:02:00.001-05:00

And why do you ask?? Well this time I'm in the process of upgrading my Windows Vista Laptop to well... Windows Vista! What a change right? Well it turns out the sucker came with "Home Premium" on it, I thought this would be fine actually. I knew that this version supported just about everything I needed... But the comes microsoft's artificial road block, virtual PC.... Yep, this doesn't work on any home version of microsoft's latest and greatest, so I needed to up to the highest version you can possibly get.

Fortunately, rather than having to pay for this upgrade I happen to have an MSDN subscription thanks to my company (yay company!). So I just burned the DVD and got started. Sadly, I can't do the "anytime upgrade" option like that (for this you MUST pay the $159, ouch)! So, I had to do an upgrade install.. This after installing lots of updates and development tools... God I hope it works right!

Anyway, not much to report right now. In theory I have a date this weekend, nothing big just coffee. The girl is great, other than she takes a bit of time to respond. Yes, the busy girl, I figured I might as well meet up. We do seem to get along in email, so who knows maybe that will extend to in person as well. Anyway, I say in theory because while we've agreed to meet, I haven't heard back from her yet as to when and where, so with some luck that will be coming.

Tomorrow I'm going to watch a movie with my friend E, that should be great. E (Elizabeth) is awesome and a lot of fun so it should be a good oppertunity for me to get (and hopefully keep) things off my mind that seem to just not go away. Nothing horrid like my mom's cancer, that has actually been going pretty well thus far. As well as one could possibly dream/hope/pray for which I feel very happy and blessed about. Just other stuff.

Anyway, I suppose I should walk over to Lappy (this is my new laptop's name, which Leslie encouraged me to call it) and see how he's doing with the upgrade. Good night everyone.

Up way too late...

2008-01-19T03:38:00.000-05:00

It's way to late at night, I really should be asleep right now but I really just don't feel like I can at the moment. So I figured what the heck, I'll go ahead and write up a blog entry. So not much has been going on in my life lately. I am pleased to say that I have managed to continue to email back and forth with the girl I mentioned in my blog earlier. Though at present, communication is spuradic at best. I guess she's a busy gal, hopefully not too busy that a we absolutly won't be able to try and get something going. As of right now we've agreed that we are enjoying communicating and we do want to meet up for a causual date. That is something I suppose. To be honest I'm amazed that I can be considering this right now, and in some ways excited about it (ok, would be a bit more excited if communication was more steady, but hey). I've been very down about the idea of love lately, probably from the dissapointement I had a little while ago. I'm not going to talk much about it because really there's no reason to, other than to say it's really made me feel very negative about the idea of ever really starting a good relationship with some one. Really more along the lines that it just isn't possible. I guess I am hoping that this girl I'm talking to could prove me wrong in the end. She's got potential, I'll say that much.

So, I guess I should post something about my mom. Honestly, there isn't a lot to say at this point other than she's recovering from her surgery. As of last I talked to her, we were waiting for some test to be preformed that will tell us how to treat her illness. As far as I know the test hasn't been performed yet, I guess still waiting on billing to be straightend out. Seems odd to me, some one has cancer, we need to know how to treat it, but they're not about to go about figureing that out until they know how they're going to be getting paid. Thank god we have private medicine right?

Other stuff going on... I'm spending way too much money, that's for sure. Just tonight I *FINALLY* got my self a laptop. This is actually somthing that has needed to happen for a while. I've never done it because, frankely it hasn't been practical. But here I am with my brand new HP laptop. Spent a bit of time customising it tonight, got rid of Norton, put on Avast (if it has to do with priates it must be good av right?) and did what windows updates needed to be done. I also ordered up 2GB of memory which is the max this machine can have. Also, beside the laptop I got a very cheap digital tv tuner for my PC. Basically I just wanted something that would let me toy with Windows Media Center. That has been a lot of fun. I've discovered I can record stuff in HD, tell Windows to burn it to DVD, and it'll automatically re-encode it properly for regular DVD. Best part is since the source is HD, it actually up-scales back to HD very nicely in my toshiba HD DVD player (RIP HD DVD format :( ). Now I *VERY SERIOUSLY* am in *MAJOR* debt repayment mode. I should be getting some extra cash from work and the roommate to help out with that.

anyway, I need to be asleep. So I think that's where I'm going now. Good night.

Wow, consumer electronics...

2008-01-06T23:38:00.001-05:00

So my bluray player officially broke today, and will be out for up to 1 month with best buy's product service play (yay :P). Which made me think, am I the only one that has noticed how these things didn't break this often way back in the day? I mean our very first VCR ever in my family lasted from about when we first moved to the states (1980) till my freshman year of college (1997). Also, when I was younger we got a nintendo which ran great with out any issues for a long time (eventually the contacts corroded inside, but that took years).

Since I've started on my consumer electronics buying splurge this year, I've gotten a Wii that needed to be fixed, an x-box that needed to be fixed twice and now a bum bluray player. Out of everything I have, the only things that work absolutely flawlessly are the JVC receiver, Toshiba HD DVD player (RIP HD DVD :( ) and Toshiba HDTV. Only 50% of your home theater working well seems rather crappy to me.

Happy new year

2008-01-01T22:57:00.001-05:00

Happy new year everyone, I hope everyone had a fun, safe, awesome holiday. Mine was pretty decent, I was back in Detroit from December 23rd - 28th which was fun and refreshing. Didn't see everyone that I wanted to see while I was there, notably my college friends Kelly and Eddy. But I did see my high school gang which was great, everyone there is doing very well. I also got to see Steve and Lynn's new baby girl, she was absolutely cute as a button.

While I was there, I found out my mom's biopsy results from her recent surgery. It turns out that while the 1st lymph node showed no signs of cancer at all, the second one actually did. So there will be another surgery to remove more lymph nodes. From what I understand this puts us back into a bit of a wait and see mode. I guess some form of chemo(sp?) is an absolute certainty now, but we don't know if it will be a pill kind or a drip kind, at least that's what I understood.

On the relationships front, well as to be expected there's absolutely nothing to report. I've been trying to meet up with girls on the match.com dating website and seeing where that gets me since I don't know anyone off hand that I would want to date 'round these parts. I've met one girl on there so far that I'm actually kind of interested in, but I literally just met her, and being the holidays emailing back and fourth is slow. So we'll see what happens there. Honestly a bit nervous about the whole dating thing at this point, but there is the whole if I ever want to be happy I need to start looking for someone thing, so I suppose that is motivation.

Anyway, happy new year everyone.

P.S., yeah I never did figure out what's wrong with my blog formatting. I just don't have the energy for it. So I suppose for the time being it'll stay this way. Perhaps one magical day it'll fix its self.

P.P.S, ok changing to the blue version of my blog seems to have fixed it. Hooray, this one actually looks nicer anyway so I'm sticking too it. It doesn't burn my eyes out as much, that is always a bonus.

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-16T20:21:00.001-05:00

Yes that's right, no happy holidays here... Why is that? Because I honestly don't know anyone that is a faith other than Christian (or formally Christian now agnostic), so why I should be all PC with my holidays? :)

So I hope everyone is having a great holiday this year, after all this is the most joyous time of year right? As for mine, well I suppose it could be better... Actually it's be a hard couple of months, but fortunetly I've had plenty of over zealous santa clausing to do which worked wonders as far as keeping my mind off of things and keeping me sane. I won't bore you all with every little detail as to why it's been hard, but I suppose I will mention the bigger things.

First and formost: Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer just recently. On the positive side, the tumor they found is small, and it appears that the cancer has not yet spread. She just had her surgery last week, they removed the lump, plus 2 lymph nodes. While they haven't had a chance to perform a biopsy on the lymph nodes, they did say that they didn't look cancerous. While obviously they need to do a biopsy to make a final determination, I take great comfort in the fact that it doesn't look bad right off the bat. So it looks right now as if the treatments should be this surgery, then a few rounds of radiation (pending biopsy and follow up exams).

Secondly: I'm still spending the Christmas season single, this one is really my fault I suppose. I really haven't been looking for anyone until just recently. I suppose deep down I was hoping something could happen with someone I care for very much, but it just isn't ever going to. So I'm now in the process of trying to move on and find someone else. So far I've only been on one date, which to be perfectly honest didn't work out well. I guess in this particular case it ended up being a good thing, in retro spect she's different enough from me religiously that it wouldn't work. She was Jewish, I'm Catholic (for anyone that some how didn't know that already). I guess on the one hand you could say Judaism and Christianity aren't all that different so it should work, and I suppose on some level you would be right. But on another, when I actually went out on the date I started thinking about all the little traditions I like and would love to do with my family that just wouldn't happen if I married a non-christian. Silly stuff like how when we were kids, my siblings and my self would sing happy birthday to Jesus holding little cupcakes with candles in them. Small, yes, silly perhaps, but totally cute and worth continuing. So I suppose now that I have that experience out of the way I'm going to continue looking for someone I can share my life with, only this time I'm looking mainly for Christians of some sort, that's where I'm going to draw the line with pickyness, I don't care what type it's all basically the same if you ask me.

Besides that everything else that's been going on that might be negative is stupid little stuff that frankly isn't worth mentioning in the least because to be perfectly honest I wouldn't care all that much about it if it wasn't for issues 1 & 2.

But, it hasn't been all bad... Just last night I had a get together with Joe, Laura (and their cute little one Eddie) plus JR, Chris (JR's friend from his cookie Christian school), Elizabeth and Justin. It was a great night, we played x-box for a bit (which died then came back to life later that day), played some Cranium Wahu (or whatever it's called) and some Trivial pursuit. There was plenty of Pizza, beer and snacks to go around and a great time was had by all. Looking like Thrusday we're going to have our official christmas party over at Joe and Laura's, after that I'm off to visit my parents for the holidays which will be a very nice change of pace for me at this point.

Also, as always I've made some Home Theatre changes since I've last posted. I've had HD DVD for a while and have been totally loving it, but with a huge sale a while back on the Toshiba HD-A2 player I decided to sell my X-Box HD-DVD and replace it with the Toshiba stand alone. Over all, great upgrade... It does boot a tad bit slower than the x-box (ok, a lot slower), but it's more reliable and if/when I upgrade my sound system to one that supports HDMI I'll actually be able to take full advantage of High Def audio. Also, because I couldn't stand to miss out on Blu Ray exclusives, I very recently picked up a Samsung BD-P1400 blu ray player. It's a basic model as far as what it supports. It does have Internet for firmware upgrades, but it doesn't support PiP functions, and it won't support Web Enabled special features. But at least now I can play blu ray movies. As of right now I have 30 HD DVD's (more to come Christmas) and 12 Blu Ray's 5 more coming as part of a 5 free movies for buying a blu ray player promotion. I do very much still prefer HD DVD to Blu-Ray, especially give the fact that *EVERY* HD DVD player can do PiP and Internet special features while not all blu ray players are born equal. I guess either way, no matter who wins this war I'll have a basic player to take advantage of high def movies with.

So, as for my blog its self... You may have noticed the formats getting all messed up recently. For some reason after I upgraded to the final version of Live Writer my blog format started getting messed. So far I don't know what to do about it, so if you guys could be patient for now that would be great.

Anyway, I hope everyone out there is having a great holiday, certainly better holidays than mine so far! At least this year I got to upgrade (generally) the gifts I got everyone for Christmas which makes me happy. I really do love giving, it makes me feel great and I hope everyone else feels the same way... Particularly those of you giving to me this year! lol, just remember everyone, HD DVDs! ;)

Why I like tech...

2007-11-26T09:45:00.001-05:00

Ok, this is why I love technology!

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Warner/Exclusive_HD_Content/Harry_Potter_HD_DVD_to_Feature_First-Ever_Community_Screening_Function/1188

Warner brothers is bringing some "real magic" to the new harry potter and the order of the phonix HD-DVD, see below (or click link).

Promising to bring high-def interconnectivity to a new level, Warner will introduce a first-ever group screening function with its upcoming HD DVD release of 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.'

Dubbed "Live Community Screening," the new feature will allow multiple owners of the 'Order of the Phoenix' HD DVD to simultaneously watch the film via their own individual web-connected players. Playback is controlled by a single "host" user, who initiates the invitation-only viewing, and can control the film by pausing and playing the feature on everyone else's machines. Even more cutting edge, Warner says participants will also be able to text between their remote devices, creating a virtual "live chat" environment while they watch.

Blog post for anyone who wonders what I want for christmas ;)

2007-10-25T09:21:00.001-05:00

Ok ok ok... More of a "fun" post so to speak because seriously, I don't even really expect x-mas presents these days... Not that I'm so negative about life, but x-mas is expensive and I'm not going to go around actually asking for stuff! lol... But anyway, just in case anyone reading my blog is actually looking for present ideas (particularly rich distant relatives), here's my amazon wish list! Enjoy :)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/registry.html/ref=gw_br_wl/102-1243292-5076138?ie=UTF8&type=wishlist&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=left-nav-1&pf_rd_r=09CNP53B9FAH1XZ6NTX5&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=317401601&pf_rd_i=507846

What is wrong with people these days...

2007-10-18T10:52:00.001-05:00

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21358971/wid/11915773?GT1=10514

PORTLAND, Maine - Pupils at a city middle school will be able to get birth control pills and patches at their student health center after the local school board approved the proposal Wednesday evening.

So let me get this straight... "Hey, we as parents feel we're completely unable to control our kids... So lets give them birth control pills when they're 11 so they think they're safe to have as much sex as they want, and end up with a horrible std at an early age".

You have to be kidding me right? I mean I do tend to be fairly liberal on most stuff (ok, family life is where I get more conservitive), but there comes a point in time when you need some sanity... We're talking about kids between the ages of 11 and 13 here, they really will have no idea about what all sex means, really there's no way they could... So why not just make Sex Ed required, perhaps set up meetings with parents to help them better deal with these issues with their kids, and try our best to actually keep kids this young from starting to have sex when they can't possibly be ready for it....

Personally, for me this probably wouldn't be as big a deal for an High School (yes they start at 14, but they get older from that point), but the line really needs to be drawn somewhere... Before you know it we'll be giving preschoolers birth control patches/pills.

Vampires....

2007-10-17T22:44:00.001-05:00

On tv anyway... Over the weekend Kathy showed me a great new show on TV called Moonlight that I actually had not heard of at all. The show has a really great sense of humor, with some pretty good action and some well written stories, a great combo over all if you ask me. Honestly I'd say it really reminds me of Forever Knight (if you don't know this show run out to walmart and buy as many seasons as you can find now)!

It's on CBS (I think, I'm not good with local channels anymore), the one with the eye at any rate. I've got it all set up to tape in HD so I can enjoy it on the fancy new TV. So everyone, go out and watch moonlight on friday... I couldn't tell you what time it's on because I tape everything on the DVR and watch it later, but I'm sure tvguide.com can help ya out :)

What is happening to the world wide music industry?

2007-10-07T23:00:00.001-05:00

Got this from slashdot...

"The Performing Rights Society, one of the UK's royalties collecting societies, has taken a Scottish car servicing company to court because the employees are alleged to have been listening to the radio at work, allowing the music to be 'heard by colleagues and customers'. The PRS is seeking £200,000 in damages for the 'performances of the music' which they claim equates to copyright infringement. The judge, Lord Emslie, has ruled that the case can continue to hearing evidence, commenting that the key point to note was that music was 'audibly blaring from employee's radios'. Where do the extents of a 'public performance' end? Radios on in cabs?"

Anyone remember back when it was considered normal to have the radio going on the job? If things keep going the way they are I expect my kids to lean over me and ask why the employee's in whatever "old school" movie aren't being sent to re-education camps for playing the radio at work :P

While I'm rolling with fun commercials

2007-10-02T20:32:00.001-05:00

http://teenagegraffiti.blogspot.com/2007/09/wii-commercial-well-almostsouthwest.html

Good one for all you Wii fans out there.

Just thought I'd share the fun...

2007-09-27T12:17:00.001-05:00

If you've already gotten this in email, then feel free to ignore... But anyone who hasn't seen it, you have to check this Halo video out :)

http://www.loadingreadyrun.com/videos/view/228

Surprisingly short, but...

2007-09-26T23:44:00.001-05:00

All done with Halo, hooray!!! And I'm pretty sure it's over based on what transpires, though I won't say what, I'd hate to spoil. I will say that the ending was very appropriate, couldn't think of a better way to finish up the main halo story. So only question now is where will MS go? Really they still need Halo for the x-box series, so I wouldn't be surprised to see more FPS games based on the general story. Halo Wars also looks interesting. Anyway, goodnight all!

HALO 3 IS HERE!!!

2007-09-25T00:25:00.001-05:00

Here as in my hot little hands here in my apartment!!!! OH-EM-GEE MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF AWESOME!!! I've only played 15 minutes so far, and unfortunately that's all I can risk tonight, silly roommate wants to sleep tonight :(

It's all good though, I've got all day tomorrow to finish the fight!!! So that's what I'm going to do, with a little luck as of tomorrow I'll know how it all ends.

Also, quite fortunately as I got the limited edition, the game disc came scratch free... For those of you who don't keep up with these things, Microsoft had issues with the Limited Edition retention mechanism. Turns out they made the center too small, so discs pop out easily. The one I got came with the game disc still seated correctly, the Special features disc had popped out, but seems ok. Small scratches but they rubbed right out

The graphics are pretty good, I think they good have done a little better job with vegetation, but player models were top notch. What it lacks in detail as far as the veggies it makes up for in frame rate though, play is silky smooth, better than Gears... All in all, well worth my money!!! Well, everyone have a great day working tomorrow while I fight to save humanity!!!

Russell Peters....

2007-09-12T21:12:00.001-05:00

A coworker of mine just showed me a youtube of this Comedian for the first time yesterday, the guy is awesome! So I figured I'd put my first video link up, enjoy! I suggest you go out and find his DVDs!

Hollywood....

2007-09-07T19:34:00.001-05:00

Man on man... I just finished 300, for starts very entertaining film... But it made me think how backwards Hollywood can be. The thing is, the Battle of Thermopylae is a very real historical event. While I can appreciate the need to stylize the story for modern culture, and to make it perhaps more visually appealing, I think they could probably have done this and still maintained the true historical significance of the event. Well, I suppose they did get the fact that this helped unite the Greek more as a single people, but they did so ignoring the reason why that happened is because of the alliance between Athens and Sparta. In fact Athens was no where to be seen in the movie, and in fact they forget to mention that Xerxis was actually after Athens on Sparta. Instead they took a very heroic very real story and turned it into a rather cool spectacle of a myth containing little if any actual truth what so ever....

Contrasting this, you have Troy (the more recent movie with Brad Pitt). Now man, if you ever had an opportunity to go nuts with all sorts of cool mythology and fantasy there ya go. An invincible warrior who's only weakness is a single tendon in his heel, the gods all involved playing against each other, and each other's humans, legendary beasts and the most beautiful woman ever to walk the earth... And what does Hollywood do to the story? Make it depressingly mundane... No gods, no invicible warrior (at least they did have him get shot through the Achilles tendon first) and some very pretty, but not in anyway unnaturally so women. I mean really folks, could we at least have a little fun with it?

Well, I'm done being amused at hollywood for the evening, everyone have a great weekend!

HD Movie Rentals...

2007-09-06T00:27:00.001-05:00

So I don't have an HD-DVD player yet (got my eye on that A2 though), but thanks to my ever handy x-box I can rent HD movies via the ever nifty x-box video market place... Unlike the TV shows you purchase, it seems you only get the movies for 14 days or 24hrs after the first play, but the price seems about right, hitting around the $5 mark, and hey, it's HD unlike what you get at b-buster. Currently I'm working on downloading my first rental, the new TMNT which I'm excited about. I also purchased the history channels special on the battle of Thermopli which was also in HD and very much produced to ride on "300"'s coat tails. It was actually very well made, and I enjoyed it very much. Again, god I love video market place.... I just hope one of these days Microsoft clues in, decides to make x-box media extender work both ways and allows for the storage of video content on an Media Center PC... That would rock, and completely pwn Sony's new PS3 video download service.

Back to real life...

2007-09-03T22:52:00.001-05:00

Well, the long weekend is over, and sadly real life awaits :( No more just chilln' out with friends, playing games and other such fun stuff, back to working 9-6... Ahhh, maybe some day I'll get that winning lotto ticket.

Labor day weekend

2007-09-02T23:20:00.001-05:00

So it's labor day weekend... thank god for extended weekends!! lol, man I need this right now. Though honestly it's only been moderately sociable.. Went to a (Durham) Bulls game on Friday night to celebrate my friend Justin's birthday, after which we went to the shiny diner (one of my fav. restaurants). Got together with Elizabeth last night for some Wii, officially 57% done with Rayman Raving rabbids. And the rest of the time?

Well I've just finished Gears of War on causal mode. Fun game for sure, I love the game play, a lot like fear, only better use of cover. The story wasn't particularly well explained over all, but then again most "FPS" type games won't go into depth (ok, so this game is really 3rd person). Halo being the exception to this rule as there are 4 books accompanying the games and enhancing the story (god I love halo and can't wait for Sept 25th).

So what do I do with my x-box till the 25th? Well, there's always:

Dirt, Kameo, COD 2 and Overlord. Then for pure time wasters there's, DOA 4, Champions League Soccer and Fusion Frenzy 2. This doesn't go into the original x-box games I've kept (Halo/Halo 2, Prince of Persia sands of time, Star Wars Battle Front, Simpsons Road Rage).

Over all, loving the 360. Great gaming system for sure, even if the price point is still a bit high in my book (considering you need to spend $350 to get it with a HD).

Hooray for x-box market place!

2007-08-26T00:56:00.001-05:00

I haven't bought much of anything yet actually, just a snazzy halo 3 theme for my 360. But what I have been getting quite a bit of that is fun are free game demo's that you can download. So far I've tried BioShock (which installs a root kit for the PC version apparently), madden '08 (actually kind of fun), Forenza 2 (YAY FORD GT), and the coolest game overlord which as kept me up till now! It's so much fun, you get minions to do your bidding, you have have them smite people, destroy things, carry heavy things around or move things out of your way. Seriously, I have to buy that game!

Small improvements to the entertainment center

2007-08-23T23:31:00.001-05:00

Well today I made the last small improvement to my entertainment center that I'm going to be making for a while. The one major pain I'm been having is with a cruddy Belkin router I got a walmart for $30 (more or less). It was the cheapest wireless router I could buy, and I guess you get what you pay for. My pocket pc could never connect to it, my wii could, but if my roommate got her laptop on the wireless it would boot everything else off (including wii) until the router was restarted (unplugging it).

Well today I picked up a DLink for about $60. It works great, PPC phone can connect, wii can connect, roommates laptop can connect, and all 3 work together! How great is that, my 360 even work great with everything else on the wired network! yay!!

Only slight issue, Windows Vista (my PC) hates it. God knows why, I'm sure macs and Linux pcs would work great with it. But Microsoft's newest OS is too cool for school. So I had to connect it up to the Vonage router to make that work. Oh well, I can live with that. As long as everything else works I'm happy(ish). I have to admit, my computer got kicked a lot tonight over it's stupidity. I hear by declare every windows vista programmer must walk around the Redmond campus whipping them selves for a day. They deserve it for making an OS that can't work with every broad band router on the market (as every other device we have works, I assume it is vista that bites).

Wii-60!

2007-08-22T19:44:00.001-05:00

Not much going on to report these days. Went to a house warming party for one of my new friends here on Friday, which was a great time. Jenny really did a great job fixing up her new place! I think she and (and her dude when he moves in) will be super happy there.

Also, as the geekier of you might have picked up from the blog title, yesterday I rounded out my console collection by replacing my x-box 1 with an x-box 360 making my "Wii-60!" console! (Nintendo Wii + X-box 360 for those still in the dark). I have to say, I am enjoying the 360, though the limited amounts of backward compatibility was disappointing. I mean really, Price of Persia Sands of time work, but not Warrior with in or The Two Thrown's? That's kind of silly if you ask me. But it ended up working out great anyway, I have a decent collection of games I'll actually play, and my "rebel little sister" Leslie has her self an x-box and a nice library of games to get going with. The graphics are really nice with the 360, though over all the Wii still has better overall game play.

Well, that's all I got for now. Hope everyone out there is well.

Earth quake in Lima....

2007-08-16T08:41:00.001-05:00

Well, it seems that last night there was a 7.8 on the Richter scale earth quake last night in my "home town" of Lima Peru. As of yet, I have not officially heard whether my family there is ok or not, according to CNN as of 11PM last night only 17 fatalities have been reported, which is a blessing considering the size of the city and strength of the quake. Fortunately, much like LA buildings there are designed for these things. So I'm fairly hopeful that all will be well. Unfortunately there will be no way for me to know until power + phone is restored there.

Edit: I just heard back, all is well in Lima for my family.

Edit 2: It seems initial estimates from last night were way off, death toll is currently at 450 per the UN.

The apocalypse approcheth...

2007-08-14T15:15:00.001-05:00

Nikki has bought a new gun... Store water and speggetio's! I'm pretty sure the nuclear explosions will start any minute now....

A fun weekend despite weather.com...

2007-08-13T13:35:00.001-05:00

Well.. I had planned to go to the beach this weekend with my friend Kathy, however weather.com ruined those plans by predicting horrible thunderstorms that would sweep us out to the wonderful land of Oz. As it turns out, there was no rain, nor has there been any weekend this month (weather.com has thus far predicted rain consistently every weekend for myrtle beach). I think they just have something against them, perhaps their chief meteorologist got sun burnt earlier on this summer.

At any rate, needless to say we decided against going on the off chance they were going to be right. I did however drive down to Rock Hill and spend the weekend with her. It was nice to spend time with her, just chilln' and watching tv mostly. Watched a whole bunch of forever knight, and we had some extremely yummy brownies with ice cream that she whipped up. Anyway, I've got some projects that seriously need done, and I'm blogging this from the office. Laterz y'all.

Follow up on Fidel law suite...

2007-07-29T00:29:00.001-05:00

Cheater blog post here... Just figured I'd share an email I sent to my harry potter friends after reading the news article about the woman suing Fidel Castro

From Carlo

To Harry Potter bunch.

So I think the new ending for harry potter should be that Harry decides that instead of continuing the mission that Dumbledoor set him on at the end of book 6, he instead sues Lord Voldomort for the wrongful deaths of Lilly & James Potter, Series Black and Cedric Diggory. The claim would mention that the Lord Voldomort did knowingly and willingly kill the above without regard for human life and emotional damages to the plaintiff. And I think harry should end up winning an extra 1 billion galleon’s at the end of the book…

What is the world coming to?

2007-07-26T12:51:00.001-05:00

BELFAST, Maine - A woman has sued Fidel Castro, alleging that the Cuban leader caused the wrongful death of her pilot father after he was shot down over Cuba and imprisoned in 1963 while on a covert mission.

Seriously... I feel for you loss, it's terrible to grow up with out a parent due to a tragic death... But seriously lady, your father was in the military flying a spy mission in enemy territory. Unfortunately he was shot down, and sadly died while being held captive. You can't sue for that, that's just the way things are.

Things to remember when buying presents...

2007-07-25T16:52:00.001-05:00

So I decided the other day to go ahead and get Kathy a nice house warming present... I'm not going to say what it is since technically she doesn't have it yet and there's an off chance she'll read this before getting it (very small, but you never know right?). Anyway, I decided to get her a nice cute little present to go with her nice cute little (well, nice sized) apartment.

Thing that I didn't realize (particularly since I haven't delt with this issue in a long time) is that the shipper was going to require a signature with UPS! All I have to say is damnet! You know, ya try to get some one a nice present to cheer up their day a little (not that she hasn't been cheery as it is what with the new job/apt) but nope... It has to become a whole big mess over signature required and UPS refusing to deliver after 5 :(

Makes me feel sad, I certainly hope that when all is said and done she's happy with it and that it was worth it all for her (this was just supposed to be a cute little something)! Next time, I'm sticking to shippers that I know aren't signature nazi's!

I would however like to take a second to mention that I do understand the signature nazism of this shipper given the nature of what is being sent, there could be potential badness just leaving it out... Just kind of a frustrating thing to have happen!

Looong trip this weekend!

2007-07-16T23:53:00.001-05:00

But well worth it! Went to go visit Kat at her new place. Originally I had the idea in my head that I would be helping her unpack things, get all organized up and such. As it turns out, she and her dad had everything under control! Her mom and I were shocked when we showed up (that was the major useful thing I got to do, play chofeer! lol). I did get to do some small stuff, help her dad get pictures set up and such. So I did in the end get to do a bit of work, if only || that much.

Her apartment is amazing, she's got it layed out perfectly. And it was completely awesome getting to visit! We got to go see the new Harry Potter movie at the iMax in Charollet which was anywhere between amazing and eh, doesn't quite look right. For those of you wanting to go, the credits, fight scenes and landscapes are killer, on the other hand closeups are stretched and if you peek at the closing credits while walking out you'll probably get dizzy and fall down. Over all though, WELL worth the teeny tiny bit extra you pay over a normal theater.

Of course after the three of us got back home (Kat's friend Mina whom I had never met before joined us) we broke out the order of the phonix Wii game and went to town!

Well darn, I should be in bed right now! And I mean, really should be! Good night everyone.

Happy 4th!

2007-07-04T22:55:00.001-05:00

Happy forth to everyone! Hope it was fun and safe for all... Mine was sedate... Watched movies, got a new Wii-mote + numchuk, visited Kathy for a little while (actually was picking up movies but she came home while I was a chit chatting away with leslie). Then more movies. I did burn some sparklers (queue Monty Python "yay" effect).

Oh so near the end of Zelda!

2007-07-01T01:12:00.001-05:00

Ah yes, one of the few games I could actually be engaged enough to keep playing right through to the end. Not only that, but actually still be addicted to... Basically, I just need the big key for the twilight palace. Then I can kill Zant 4 times over. After that I fight through the palace, free Zelda with her help defeat Gannandorf (according to my cheater guide that I've been using for bosses). It'll be great to finally finish up. I really want to see how things end up! Then perhaps, I'll play through again with a mind on actually getting all the upgrades (bigger wallet, more heart containers etc).

Wii have a problem...

2007-06-25T23:03:00.001-05:00

Yes, I did steal the rather clever title from the wiihaveaproblem.com dudes, but it's very apt so there you are. At any rate, after a good while of super fun entertainment (Zelda is awesome), my Wii has started displaying all kinds of little visual artifacts... In the form of tiny colored boxes in screen... You see it playing any game under Wii OS, actual wii games and virtual console games. Odd part? They are not so apparent (or possible even there) if you play good ol' game cube games in the wii. Go figure!

Other than that not a whole bunch going on... Just found out that the Shamrock in down town Marquette is closing down! Shocking news, this place as literally been open for over a century! And what is it going to be? Yet another steak house... Ok, well it really isn't like Marquette has an over abundance of those, or anything for that matter. We're talking strict college town, 50,000 people and that is the biggest city in the whole entire UP (half the population of the entire UP in fact) (that's Michigan's upper pen. for those not in the know).

In other news, my friend Kathy (blog linked) has just gotten her self a totally awesome job not more than a few days after gradating with her second bachelors in Elementary Ed. So a huge contgrats to you kat, you really are the bomb! Only sad part is she'll be living far away, well sad for me 'cause I'll still be far away from the friend that put the idea to move to this state in my head in the first place. Anyway, I hope that anyone and everyone that just happens to come across this blog entry will join me in wish the very best for her :)

The TV is in!

2007-06-11T23:12:00.001-05:00

Well, last Thursday was the day! I got my shiny new TV in (with a ton of help from Kathy and her dad, they totally rock)! I have to say I'm totally digging it. I had the Time Warner people get my new HD-DVR installed on Sunday, I have the Wii hooked up with component video and the x-box going. Only bummer, the TV actually down converts 5.1 signals to 2.1 (aka Dolby's marketing name for stereo). So I had to get me a neat little fiber optic switch thing so I can keep my 5.1 goodness. YAY TV!

The bonus...

2007-05-30T22:13:00.001-05:00

Truthfully I did not see it coming... But I was informed that I'll be getting a rather nice little bonus soon from my boss! Very exciting! This is the first real bonus I've ever gotten... Like, I'm going to buy a nice shiny new HD-TV bonus! It's nice to actually be appreciated!

Wiiiii!!!

2007-05-28T14:15:00.001-05:00

Well for those of you who couldn't tell from the blog title... I got mii a wii! Funny thing is I wasn't really considering buying one. I just happened to be at Target looking for bean bag chairs. After being told this isn't bean bag chair season (they have seasons?) I decided what the heck I'll check out game consoles. I was planing on drooling over 360's actually, damn Microsoft and their un-dropped prices! At any rate, I just happened to notice they had like 10/15 Wii's just sitting there on the shelves... No doubt they just recently restocked, and being memorial day weekend no one around to buy them really. Except me! So I did, I mean heck! They're cheap, they have a interesting control system and are loads of fun! So I got me a Wii, an extra wii-mote with nunchuck, and two games (in addition to Wii-Sports). What I love is the fact that I can play any nintendo game ever on it (in theory). In reality their game catalog is still skimpy, but so far I have Super Mario Bro's, Excite Bike and Mario Kart 64. Over all, an awesome purchase!

Only thing I wish I could figure out is how to make better use of the SD card slot. So far all I've been able to do is make a copy of Mario Kart there. What I would love is to be able to store my downloaded games there entirely (at least the bigger ones). Or at least have all my saved games there. Not sure how to set that up by default yet, then again I have yet to RTFM so that could have something to do with it. All in all, Nintendo has a winning design. It offers plain USB support, expandable memory comes if the form of SD Cards (game cube cards also supported for GC games), it's directly GC compatible, and you can down load a selection of games from every other nin console! All at a great price compared to the other two kids on the block! I hope MS gets a clue and drops X-Box prices $100 across the board!

Roommate moving in...

2007-05-19T19:36:00.001-05:00

So I"m suppose to have my new roommate move in on monday. As such I've been very busy trying to clean and reorganize this appartment. So far, I've moved my new bed into my room, so now my bedroom is more bed than room :P I've also thrown away a heck of a lot of stuff, inlcuding the old twin. I've also taken over the small cubby closet across from my room entirly... Not having a master br. closet I need the extra space for stuff. All in all, busy busy day. And there will be more of the same tomorrow. Only more so in the general living area as my room is in decent shape her room is clean and vacummed.

References....

2007-05-16T22:05:00.001-05:00

Job references... If you're going to ask former coworker for one, here's an idea... Don't start lieing on your job application about how long you worked at the company... You know, like tell the people you were at the company for a year when you were only there 2 months... Then when your reference tells the truth (because you failed to inform them about your fudging), it probably won't help to tell them to call the perspective employer back to "correct" this "mistake"... Because you know what, that doesn't work, your reference will know this, and it will just piss them off...

Just like like it did for me, and a certain unnamed individual associated with my current employer. Predictably, I didn't call them back to "correct the mistake".. Because it would just lead to me being discredited, not to mention any help my reference may have been. Good thing I'm smart and I didn't, because the perspective employer called my office, asked for anyone but my self and this persons other reference and got specific start and end dates (like I figured they would, heck I would!). Ug, why are people so stupid!!!

Birthday Dinna

2007-05-16T00:25:00.001-05:00

Well, I had my birthday dinner today. It was fun stuff, 6 people showed up at the ale house for beer and tasty eats. Was defiantly nice finally getting out and having a good time with some great friends! Really made my night :)

Happy birthday to me

2007-05-13T20:13:00.001-05:00

Well, another birthday has passed by. Very quietly this time around actually, certainly nothing exciting happened like last year. So I'm another year older, but some how it doesn't quite feel like it. It never really quite does though does it? I mean really, how often does your birthday come around and you think "wow, I'm a whole different person now that I'm officially a year older".

On a side note, I'd like to say a very happy mothers day to all mom's who might be reading this blog! Your kids will defiantly appreciate everything you do for them even if they don't now :)

Pyramid scheme's alive an well

2007-05-10T20:48:00.001-05:00

So last weekend I had the interesting experience of having someone offer me a side job while I was out at Wendy's getting some lunch. To be honest I wasn't all that interested to begin with, but I figured what the heck, why not hear what he has to say?

So tonight I meet the dude at Caraboo to see what this is all about... And to be honest after talking to the dude for half an hour I still have no idea what they're about other than it's defiantly some sort of twisted pyramid scheme.

According to this dude they're Walmarts biggest competitor, but I didn't even get the companies name.... According to him they've got the nations #2 energy drink... Except he didn't name it, all he said is that 'cause of this drink coke and the like aren't even bothering making energy drinks because they'd never catch up... I wondered if I should inform him that Coke doesn't seem to have any trouble selling Vault :P

The best part.. This is an online business, yet when I asked if there was an website I could check out he seemed really hesitant to give me an address... In fact he insisted I talk to "Alex"... ::sigh:: I really wonder how people fall for this crap.

D9 54 37 00 C9 EF 22 6C AD E6 3D 24 D8 BB E3 29

2007-05-08T22:08:00.001-05:00

That's right everyone!!! I own this number! It's mine and no one can take it away from me! I'll sue!!! Haha... Seriously, apparently the folks over at http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=1155 decided to make a webpage that generates a pseudorandom 128bit number, this this number is used to encrypt a copy righted haiku. Vuala, per the DMCA this number is your very own, you can sue anyone caught trying to decode the haiku with your number. So if you've ever wanted your own number, there you are :)

Urge....

2007-05-02T23:47:00.001-05:00

Well, I've gotten addicted to Microsoft & MTV's Urge network... It all started with the iPod (believe it or not) that I got as my Christmas bonus from my company. For a while I just filled it up with the music collection I already had... Only problem is that, even with all the stuff my sister downloaded and I copied last time I was in Grosse Pointe, I was getting sick of hearing the same stuff over again..

Enter iTunes... It took about 3 days of screwing around on there to realize it sucks... I presume the experience is better on an Mac where Apple controls everything, but I have a PC. On the PC, iTunes is extremely slow, and on vista burning to CD doesn't seem to work (at least it doesn't with my Sony DVD+-r/CD+-R drive & Dynex CD+-R).

So I checked out Microsoft's urge thing that goes along with Zune... Holy crap, what a difference. First of all, its *FAST*!!! Searching is much easier, it works a lot like windows search, just start typing and it starts finding. Then I found out for only $10/month I can download all the music I want at no extra cost... The down side to the subscription thing is no burning, and you can't listen to music you downloaded after you cancel. However if you really like the music you can buy it by the song or album, then you get to keep it for ever and burn to CD so you can rip it in iTunes and put it in to your iPod...

I think I'm going to buy a MS Zune as my next Mp3 player, get rid of iTunes all together. I do like the iPod hardware, but iTunes needs serious help!

Roommateless...

2007-04-24T22:43:00.001-05:00

So I am officially roommate and catless now. I helped nikki get all of her stuff up to Greenville last monday, then last friday she pretty much officially moved to her new apartments. I'll defiantly miss having a friend around like I have, and though the cats drove me up the wall from time to time I have to admit I'll even miss them.

As far as the search for a roommate? Well, it goes very very slowly. Apparently this is the off season for roommates. I can't say I'm 100% disappointed. Right now I've got me 2 bedrooms all to my self. I'm sleeping in the masterbed room now on a king size areo bed type blowup bed. Then "my room" has become a (currently rather messy) office and guest bedroom with twin bed. Over all, not a bad set up, but alas... It is going to have to end... It's great, but not twice as much in rent for 12 months great!

KF T-REX?

2007-04-13T07:43:00.001-05:00

According to this MSNBC news item, it seems that indeed dinosaurs are the distance cousins of birds, and in fact, the Chicken is the closest living relative to the mighty T-Rex! Dino on the BBQ anyone? But the real question in all this, when will Jurassic park be built? :D

No white Easter for me :)

2007-04-12T23:22:00.001-05:00

I knew there was a reason why I moved to NC, and apparently the distinct lack of a white Easter was it. From what I'm told, my parents got a snowy Easter surprise, at least Grand Rapids (where one of my college friends live) is having yet another one. But here in Morrisville? Not a flake of snow in sight, thank you very much :D

So what did I do with my Easter? Well, my friend Kathy was in town so I made sure I had plenty of time to catch up with her and spend some time. It was great to finally see her again, it's been since Christmas. Also hung out with some of my other friends as well. But other than that, it was very quiet. The roommate had gone to a wedding over the weekend so I was home alone.

The only sad part? Well after paying off my car and fixing up it's brakes last month (which totaled to roughly a "well damn" amount of money) I ended up exceptionally broke as of Saturday. So It's been home cooked pasta and just plain chilling for me.

Well, I hope everyone out there has had a totally awesome Easter. Mine was pretty good that is for sure!

Scams everywhere....

2007-04-09T14:21:00.001-05:00

Well, my search for a roommate on roommates.com has taught me that there are indeed, scams everywhere. Right now what I've been running into is a string of (typically female) "applicants" that claim to be highly educated individuals who are born and raised in English speaking countries and do all kinds of wondrous humanitarian work all over the globe.

Problem is, for being native born they don't seem to have any sort of grasp on the English language. Now I admit, I'm a horrible speller. But an Australian born Pathologist raised in Ontario CA stringing together a sentence like

"i am so much contented with the room and will appreciate if you can just remove the ad. from the website and rent the room to me."

good lord... If you read the entire email you can't help be reminded old B grade Japanese sci-fi movies... A couple of black and white Japanese kids running around the streets of Tokyo gleefully proclaiming that playing ball would be "very pleasing to me".

The best part is if you bother responding to the email. They immediately tell you the good news that their employer has given them $4,800 (or so) to move in and all they need is your back acct.# to deposit the money... Hmm, are they going to be making with drawls to some where in Africa the minute they have all the info they need? Naaaaaaaaaaaaaw...

Ah well, here's hoping I find some people that are legitimately looking for a place to live.

Going along with chimps weilding spears...

2007-04-04T23:07:00.001-05:00

An anonymous reader writes "A Brazilian court has already issued a writ of habeas corpus in the name of a chimp. And now an Austrian court may well decide that a chimpanzee is a 'person' with what up until now have been called human rights." From the story in the Guardian/Observer: "He recognizes himself in the mirror, plays hide-and-seek and breaks into fits of giggles when tickled. He is also our closest evolutionary cousin. A group of world leading primatologists argue that this is proof enough that Hiasl, a 26-year-old chimpanzee, deserves to be treated like a human. In a test case in Austria, campaigners are seeking to ditch the 'species barrier' and have taken Hiasl's case to court. If Hiasl is granted human status — and the rights that go with it — it will signal a victory for other primate species and unleash a wave of similar cases."

Really don't have time to express my opinion right now.. It's late, I'm suffering bad from allergies and need to go to work tomorrow. So I'll edit later... This is about the most interesting thing I've read in a while though...

Edit:

Well, I'm back... It's good Friday, got home early for work so I figured I'd come back and edit in my own thoughts... Personally I think that, these people are crazy.... Call me speciesist I suppose, but I think that in order to get "Human Rights" any species should have at least "Human" intelligence (or greater). It may be that the chimp laugh, cry and exhibit all these other emotions, but to be frank.... They are still creatures very much ruled by their environment. While it may be that in a few thousand (more likely million) years they may be our sentient cousins almost indistinguishable from our selves, the fact is right now they're not quite there yet. Personally, I would say that for the time being, chimps should continue to receive, animal rights. But hey, maybe I'm wrong and we'll all be taken over by a big army of chimps ;)

HAMPSTER DANCE!!!

2007-04-02T21:36:00.001-05:00

They have CD'S!! Who the hell knew? I sure didn't... It's the funniest damn thing I've ever heard in my life (Oh yes, I bought one for $5 on amazon). I think everyone should go buy one of them... You are guaranteed to split your side. Just be careful, apparently some of these have become collectors items. Many go for $50+, but there are some out there for much cheaper :)

NO MORE CAR PMT!!!

2007-03-27T21:38:00.001-05:00

Well, I thought it would never happen... But, I have no more car pmt!!! FREEDOM!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!! :D

Quest for a new roomie...

2007-03-27T17:50:00.001-05:00

Well, after some mad frantic cleaning (mostly on the part on Nikki who totally rocked cleaning things up) my "official" search for a roommate has begun. I say "official" because while I had adds out I just recently had my first real apartment visit. It went for the most part alright. I'm not sure if they'll wanna move in or not right now, the vibe was fairly... mellow I suppose.. But it was good. Best part, is the apartment was actually fairly presentable, thanks to Nikki!

Don't Google "How To Commit Murder" Before Killing

2007-03-15T22:03:00.001-05:00

An anonymous reader alerts us to a murder trial in New Jersey in which Google and MSN searches were used against a woman accused of killing her husband. In the days before the murder, prosecutors say the defendant searched for "How To Commit Murder," "instant poisons," "undetectable poisons," "fatal digoxin doses," and gun laws in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Her husband was killed with a gun procured in Pennsylvania. The crime occurred in 2004; of course, people now know to be careful about their searches.

Wow... Thanks slashdot, you've made my whole evening... I can go to bed now...

Kaaa Booom!!!!

2007-03-09T23:07:00.001-05:00

[0]eldavojohn writes "The BBC is [1]taking a look at how atomic physicists are developing cancer treatments. A step past radiotherapy, the CERN institute is publishing interesting results: 'Cancer cells were successfully targeted with anti-matter subatomic particles, causing intense biological damage leading to cell death.' [2]The press release from last year is finally sparking interest in the medical community."

Dude.. suddenly I want cancer... beam me up scottie!!!